Organised as always by the Opera della Primaziale Pisana, with the contribution of the Pisa Foundation and the patronage of the Municipality of Pisa, Anima Mundi returns for the 23rd time to fill Pisa Cathedral and Camposanto with great music. Seven concerts, as per tradition, from 10 to 27 September, alternating great masterpieces of sacred inspiration, combining the Catholic and Protestant traditions in the spirit of ecumenism, more relevant than ever today, with special moments of instrumental and vocal repertoire.
The programme for this twenty-third edition, signed for the fourth consecutive year by artistic director Trevor Pinnock, includes three major symphonic-choral events of sacred music in the Cathedral starting at 9 p.m., each preceded at 8 p.m. by the now traditional brass and percussion 'welcome' from the Tower, and four chamber concerts in the Camposanto, also at 9 p.m.
The brass and percussion welcome will be held on Tuesday 10, Wednesday 18 and Friday 27 September at 8 p.m. under the Tower.
Opening on Tuesday 10 September in the Cathedral with one of the most intense and fascinating monuments of 19th-century sacred music, the Stabat Mater op.58 composed in 1876-1877 by Antonín Dvořák, conducted by Trevor Pinnock conducting the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir with the participation of internationally renowned singers such as soprano Simona Šaturová, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Steve Davislim and bass Georg Zeppenfeld.
Two concerts will follow in the Camposanto: on Thursday 12 September, violinist Alexandra Tirsu and pianist Jacopo Giovannini will perform two pillars of the repertoire, Ludwig van Beethoven's celebrated Kreutzer Sonata and the Third Sonata by the greatest Romanian composer of the early 20th century, George Enescu. On Monday, 16 September, Ton Koopman, harpsichordist and conductor, one of the greatest exponents of historically informed performance, will tackle one of Johann Sebastian Bach's highest products, the Musical Offering, a collection of different compositions on the theme proposed to him by the King of Prussia Frederick II, together with soloists of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.
Back in the Cathedral on Wednesday, 18 September, with Antonio Greco, soprano Hilary Aeschliman, mezzo-soprano Sveva Pia Laterza and the Cremona Antiqua Orchestra performing Giovan Battista Pergolesi's legendary Stabat Mater and Crux fidelis, the work by Raffaele De Giacometti, winner of the Anima Mundi International Sacred Composition Competition, now in its sixteenth edition.
wo more concerts in the Camposanto: Friday 20 September Pascal Moraguès, one of the world's most famous clarinettists, in a trio with two young but brilliantly accomplished Italian instrumentalists, Miriam Prandi cello and Marlene Fuochi piano, for music by Robert Schumann, his wife Clara Wieck and Johannes Brahms (Drei Romanzen op 73-94-21-114); on Tuesday 24 September, the Russian pianist Alexandra Dovgan, still in her teens - she was born in 2007 - but already world-famous thanks to her victory at the Moscow Competition in 2018, with an impressive programme, the Sonata op. 110 by Ludwig Van Beethoven, Robert Schumann's Second and Sergei Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme by Corelli.
Grand finale on Friday, 27 September in the Cathedral, with important solo voices, the Czech Philharmonic Choir and the Janáček Orchestra of Ostrava conducted by Gábor Káli in two scores by 20th-century Czech composers: one rarely performed here, The Mountain of Three Lights, written in 1954 by Bohuslav Martinů, and Leoš Janáček's grandiose Glagolitic Mass from 1926.
The audience of Anima Mundi will again this year have the opportunity to support a number of solidarity and assistance projects in the area through free donations. The initiative is promoted by the Archdiocese of Pisa-Caritas Diocesana.
FOR INFO AND RESERVATIONS: free admission with ticket.
Ticket reservations can only be made online in September for all scheduled concerts.
The direct link to the booking page will be published on the official website www.opapisa.it.
