Chigiana-Mozarteum: Landmark agreement for excellence in Early Music

Landmark Agreement between the
Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and
Universität Mozarteum Salzburg

The two European institutions of advanced musical training sign an agreement to collaborate for the Summer Program in Baroque Music to be held in Siena

A new center for excellence in Early Music in Italy

Siena, February 4th, 2021 – An extraordinary agreement, of historic relevance. The two famous European institutions of higher education in music – the Accademia Musicale Chigiana of Siena and the Mozarteum University of Salzburg – give life to a unique new program: a series of summer masterclasses dedicated to deepening the study of Baroque Music. Beginning this year, they will be held in Siena from 30 August to 5 September 2021, within the context of the 90^th edition of the Chigiana Summer Academy.

Thanks to this agreement with the prestigious Austrian institution, Baroque Music – of which Mozarteum University is one of the most active and renowned centers in the world – makes its triumphal return to the Summer Academy at the Accademia Chigiana. In this inaugural year, the new higher educational program in Siena includes five courses held by professors of the Mozarteum University: Baroque Oboe with Alfredo Bernardini, Harpsichord with Florian Birsak, Traverso with Marcello Gatti, Viola da gamba with Vittorio Ghielmi, and Singing with Andreas Scholl.

«With this important agreement – declares the President of the Accademia Chigiana, Carlo Rossi – we lay the first stone in the foundation of a twinning between two European capitals of Western music, art and culture. The transmission of historic cultural heritage through the universal language of music favors communication, cultural exchange, supports regeneration, tourism, education and social inclusion. Music is a legacy to be proud of. This initiative will allow us to build, through music, a common development strategy, for a better and sustainable future. I hope that this synergy will be consolidated and further developed in the coming years with the expansion of teaching and concert performances, and the wider participation of Baroque music lovers from all over the world».

M° Vittorio Ghielmi, Director of the Early Music Department of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, is enthusiastic about the start of this memorable agreement and declares: «It is with great satisfaction that we have been able to realize this project, with the help of our colleagues at Mozarteum, Alfredo Bernardini in particular. I am also extremely grateful and proud to find embodied in this agreement two aspects that characterise my professional and personal life: as the Director of the Institute at Mozarteum, the permanent international nature of our mission as musicians and artists; and, as an Italian, the connection and constant reference to the cultural tradition of the towns of Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Rossini. In these difficult moments, the transmission of true culture is the only pillar on which we can imagine a serious rebirth and a future for our Country and for Europe».

A combination that brings together the excellence of two of the most innovative realities for the development of early music, and the practice linked to its philological execution with period instruments. A practice that has radically changed the perception of this repertoire and has also had a far-reaching influence on listening to other musical styles.

The protagonists are, therefore, on the one hand, the Institute of Early Music at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, one of the most important and prestigious departments in this field, which includes internationally renowned musicians among its faculty; on the other hand, the Chigiana Academy in Siena, which, since its founding, has developed a strong interest in the study and research in the field of early music, with the performance of rarely heard works from the Baroque period and with the presence of great interpreters such as former teachers of the summer courses, including Emili Pujol, Rene Clemencic, Frans Brüggen, Kees Boeke, Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt, Kenneth Gilbert, Christopher Rousset.

All over the world, the in-depth study of early music performance practice is considered a vital component in the global education of the musician today.

With the introduction of this program dedicated to Baroque Music, the offering of the Summer Academy at the Accademia Chigiana is now enriched with a new series of courses, enabling to cover the entire time span of history from ancient music to the music of our time.

A rich program that of the Chigiana Summer Academy, now in its 90^th edition, which  for 2021 sees the confirmations of great names such as Daniele Gatti for orchestral conducting, Salvatore Sciarrino for composition, Lilya Zilberstein for the piano, Salvatore Accardo for the violin, David Geringas and Antonio Meneses for the cello, Alessandro Carbonare and David Krakauer for the clarinet, Bruno Giuranna for the viola, Oscar Ghiglia and Eliot Fisk for the guitar, along with the new entry of Ilya Gringolts for the violin – these and many more.