Sunday, 14 December at 8 p.m. – in the Zubin Mehta Hall – the concert of the Orchestra del Mare with cellist Mario Brunello, violinist Sergej Krylov, and the musicians of the Italian Youth Orchestra.

The ensemble uses instruments crafted from the wood of migrant boats and built by inmates of the Milan-Opera prison within the framework of the “Metamorphosis” project of the Fondazione Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti.

A project by the Fondazione Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti.
With the patronage of the Municipality of Florence and Fondazione Cariplo.
With the contribution of Fondazione CR Firenze.

Special thanks for the support to the Hotel Anglo American and Toscana Aeroporti.

Florence, 25 November 2025 – Sunday, 14 December 2025 at 8 p.m., in the Mehta Hall of the Teatro del Maggio, the concert of the Orchestra del Mare will feature cellist Mario Brunello, violinist Sergej Krylov, and the musicians of the Italian Youth Orchestra of the Fiesole School of Music. A concert of great social significance in support of the Fondazione Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti.

The evening’s program includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor; Campanella, from Niccolò Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2; Adios Nonino by Astor Piazzolla; and Violoncello vibrez! by Giovanni Sollima.

On the occasion of this important event, Masters Brunello and Krylov will be presented—with instruments built by the very inmates involved in the crafting process—a cello and a violin made in the lutherie workshop of the Milan-Opera prison.

The two artists will thus become “ambassadors” of this initiative, which highlights the contemporary tragedy of migrants and the need to give concrete form, within prisons, to Article 27 of the Italian Constitution, which states that “...punishments may not consist of inhumane treatment and must aim at the rehabilitation of the convicted.” The concert is a project by the Fondazione Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti; it is supported by the patronage of the Municipality of Florence and Fondazione Cariplo and by the contribution of Fondazione CR Firenze. Thanks go to the Hotel Anglo American and Toscana Aeroporti for their support.

“The Orchestra del Mare,” explains Arnoldo Mosca Mondadori, President of the Fondazione Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti, “seeks to transform what is considered, as Pope Francis says, ‘discarded,’ into harmony and hope: boats destined for scrapping, migrants fleeing hunger and war, and finally inmates who transform this wood into musical instruments. I am grateful to the Maggio Fiorentino for giving voice to all this.”

“This concert is truly a message,” emphasized Mario Brunello as he spoke about the event. “These instruments, built with the wood of migrant boats collected from the shores after crossing the sea, will play together with the Italian Youth Orchestra to convey a call for hope to be shared with the audience.
Alongside us, in an ideal passing of the torch for this message, will be Maria Salvatori on cello and Angela Tempestini on violin.”

The proceeds of the evening support the Metamorphosis project—of which the Orchestra del Mare is the result—helping to finance not only the lutherie workshops in the prisons of Opera and Secondigliano, but also those of Rebibbia and Monza, where sacred objects such as rosaries are made from the wood of the boats. All inmates working on the project are employed in accordance with Article 27 of the Italian Constitution.

Mario Brunello, who made his debut in the Teatro del Maggio’s seasons in autumn 1992 in a concert at Teatro Verdi together with the Maggio Orchestra conducted on that occasion by Stanislav Skrowaczewski, is among the most renowned cellists of his generation: he was the first European to win the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1986. He has collaborated with the most important conductors, including Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Daniele Gatti, Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Seiji Ozawa, and Claudio Abbado. Over the course of his career, he has performed with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Tokyo, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Filarmonica della Scala, and the Münchner Philharmoniker.

Sergej Krylov began studying the violin at the age of five, completing his training at the Central School of Music in Moscow. He was appointed Music Director of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in 2008, with which he loves to explore—both as conductor and soloist—a broad repertoire ranging from Baroque music to contemporary works.

In recent years he has been invited by major musical institutions and has collaborated with the Filarmonica della Scala, the London Philharmonic, the DSO Berlin, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

During the Maggio seasons, Krylov made his debut in September 2019 in a concert conducted by Fabio Luisi, and later took part in the 2019 autumn tour in Bucharest together with Maestro Luisi and the Maggio Orchestra.