The 2024 Summer Concerts of Badia a Passignano in Chianti Hills

The Badia di Passignano Abbey

What better way to enjoy the everlasting charms of classical music than in an over 1000-year-old abbey? Badia di Passignano is a Benedictine monastic complex of great historical and architectural significance, enveloped in the beautiful Chianti hills and surrounded by cypresses and other ancient buildings. A combination of a fifteenth-century quadrangular tower plan and various nineteenth-century neo-Gothic integrations, the abbey is well known for its captivating frescoes, including a version of “The Last Supper” by Domenico Ghirlandaio from 1476.

“I Concerti di Badia,”(Concerts in the Abbey) the summer music festival organized by the Amici della Musica di Tavarnelle in collaboration with The Orchestra of Tuscany  Foundation (ORT), makes the most of this magnificent location in their series of three performances this summer. 

The next concert is this upcoming Thursday, July 18, featuring first chair violinist and concertmaster Giacomo Bianchi in Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and in Johan Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for violin, oboe, and orchestra. Then, on Saturday July 27, Silvia Chiesa, known internationally for his instrumental role in the revival of twentieth century Italian solo repertoire, will interpret Robert Schumann’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra op. 129 and Haydn’s “La Pendola.”

Finally, Monday August 5, international cello star at just 21 years old, Ettore Pagano, will perform a moving rendition of Une Larme (“a tear”) by Gioachino Rossini. In addition, the orchestra will perform music by Saint-Saens, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn’s Symphony n.4 op.90, entitled Italiana, is a stunning musical interpretation of the German composers’ excited first impressions of the country.  (Ayana Wilmot)

For more information, visit the ORT website.