Final evening in association with Trentino Spa

I Suoni delle Dolomiti: Il Signor Mario, Bach e i Settanta, an evening with Mario Brunello, Cesare Maestri, and  Davide Longo
Cime domestiche, concert featuring Paolo Benvegnù, Monica Demuru, Guglielmo Ridolfo Gagliano, Petra Magoni and Ares Tavolazzi

Nature, art, mountains, music and words have always been the hallmarks of I Suoni delle Dolomiti, a festival that brings international musicians, artists and thinkers to the Trentino mountains. They ascend towards the peaks along the same paths used by mountain-lovers and excursionists and give performances in the afternoon or at the first light of day. The event is designed for people to enjoy the mountains in complete freedom, indulge their passion for music, turn a holiday into a quest to discover the natural beauty of Trentino, and combine both physical and spiritual wellbeing by replacing theatres and palazzos with forests and rocks.  The evening’s two events encapsulate the philosophy behind this summer festival, which has brought acoustic concerts and monologues to the mountains for the last fifteen years. In association with the local tourist board (APT), local councils, nature parks, mountain-shelter managers, the Trentino Mountaineering Club (SAT) and Trentino’s mountain guides, the festival aims to raise awareness of the mountains and their values.

Music, nature, creativity and extraordinary mountaineering feats not only have much in common, but almost blend because, in their own way, they meet the demands and needs that are the hallmarks of human nature. This belief is all too clear to the seventy excursionists who last summer took part in four days of “musical trekking” in the Brenta Dolomites alongside the mountain guides of Campiglio and two noteworthy travelling companions: Mario Brunello and Cesare Maestri.

Mario Brunello has been a part of I Suoni delle Dolomiti from the very beginning. Every summer, he can be found in the Trentino mountains with his Maggini, a 17th-century cello that accompanies him to major concert and theatre venues throughout the world; he also carries it with him, like a backpack, along the paths that lead to the top of the Dolomites. Cesare Maestri needs no introduction; who else but the man who had traced some of those very routes through the Brenta Dolomites could lead “The Seventy” on a discovery of one of the world’s most beautiful mountain regions? Davide Longo provides an account of this trip, which combined Bach’s Suites, the history of the mountaineering feats in the Dolomites and long excursions from shelter to shelter. Longo is considered by the Italian literary world to be one of the new and most interesting mountain writers; his trek through the Dolomites inspired him to write a short novel that is out soon.

The second part of the evening is a concert entitled Cime domestiche. This production by I Suoni delle Dolomiti, which is out on CD, features some of the major names in new Italian music playing contemporary versions of traditional Alpine songs.  The main theme is women and their lives in the mountains. The songs have been re-recorded in a unique blend of jazz and rock and in the style of Italian singer-songwriters; featuring on the album are two of Italy’s most versatile contemporary female vocalists Petra Magoni and Monica Demuru, who are accompanied by the flare of Paolo Benvegnù, a new breed of Italian singer-songwriter, and two highly experienced musicians, double-bass player Ares Tavolazzi and guitarist Guglielmo Ridolfo Gagliano.  This refreshing work touches upon popular themes, but also affords a remarkable insight into love, work, emigration and war as seen from the top half of the sky.