The great classical music season in Bologna

A great season of classical music events has just dawned in Bologna with a host of concerts and performances in the city's most prestigious theatres and stages to keep us company until the onset of summer and beyond.

Bologna was declared a UNESCO Creative City of Music in 2006, a recognition that rewards present vitality and a centuries-old tradition of prestige, with classical music as the bridge between these two temporal dimensions, allowing the great names of the past to be revived on today's stages.

This year's musical programme is set to start in theatres with the large-scale festivals that will thrill locals and tourists alike.

The 44st edition of Bologna Festival concert programme has just been presented and will reach its climax with the Grandi Interpreti, featuring internationally renowned soloists, orchestras and conductors with dedicated performances ranging from the great classical-romantic repertoire to symphonic-choral masterpieces and the 20th century. Not to be missed concert: Riccardo Muti conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker.

On the other hand, a series of concerts by Musica Insieme continue at the Auditorium Teatro Manzoni, with a variety of programmes taken from the repertoire and the "instrumentarium" of great music, combining extraordinary talents at their debut in Bologna with the great masters of the international scene. This year' s concerts are generally held on Mondays.

The Accademia Filarmonica's season is also soon underway: from March onwards, the traditional chamber music reviews "Il Sabato all'Accademia" and "Il Quartetto in Sala Mozart" will be held at its headquarters in Via Guerrazzi, along with concerts at the Teatro Auditorium Manzoni performed by the Mozart Orchestra, led by Daniele Gatti.

The Teatro Comunale for a few years relocated to the Comunale Nouveau at the Exhibition Hall - Bolognafiere in Piazza della Costituzione 4 for restoration activities, is now ready to host the entire opera and dance programme in the new venue. 

The Comunale's symphonic season, on the other hand, will take place mainly at the Teatro Auditorium Manzoni, with a parterre of conductors of international standing, as usual. 

The Senza Spine project continues its activities with musical and other events in and around Bologna, bringing the classical tradition into the present and the future.

Keep an eye on the newly formed Novensemble Orchestra, which between Palazzo Pepoli and other locations is ready to burst onto the classical music scene in Bologna.

Numerous appointments will feature the Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale in chamber concerts in the evocative location of Palazzo Pepoli.

An extensive variety of other performances by Emilia Romagna Festival can also be enjoyed outside the city, in Imola at the Ebe Stignani Theatre and all over Romagna. 

Also in Imola, the season of the Fondazione Accademia Internazionale di Imola "Incontri col Maestro" is ready to resound in the halls of Palazzo Monsignani and in the summer venue of the Sforza Castle. 

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