"Tutta qui la cantoria!"

Tutta qui la cantoria!

Festival of Children's Voices of the Opera Houses

From an idea of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy, the first Festival entirely dedicated to Children's Choirs was born at the Teatro del Maggio.

Three concerts, Sept. 28 and 29 and Oct. 5, 2024 at 4:30 p.m., to promote the spread of musical culture among the younger generation through choral singing.

The protagonists will be the Children's Choirs from some of Italy's most important musical institutions: the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Teatro alla Scala Academy, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, the Teatro Regio di Torino and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy.

Florence, 24th September 2024 – “Tutta qui la cantoria!” is the first Festival celebrating the art of Children's Voices Choirs performing singing within Italian opera houses and involving young singers in a unique musical journey and is promoted by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy. The title of the Festival, taken from Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, echoes the famous speech of the Sacristan who, upon the false news of the victory of the Austrian troops over Napoleon, invites the lively chancel of children to prepare for the Te Deum of thanksgiving.

Seven musical institutions, including theaters and academies, have joined this first opportunity to share choral music for children's voices: the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Teatro alla Scala Academy, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, the Teatro Regio di Torino and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy. For the first time in Italy, the Children's Choirs of the major opera houses will have the opportunity to meet, to present to the public their repertoire, heritage and musical tradition of their theater and city.  A real celebration, dedicated to choral singing and the spread of musical culture among the very young, with a rich musical program, drawn from the great opera repertoire with compositions - for example, among many - by Mozart, Verdi, Purcell, Rossini, Puccini, Donizetti, Bernstein, up to the best-known contemporary popular music.

For each date, two guest choirs are scheduled to perform, at the end of which all the singers, together with those of the Maggio's Children's Voices Choir of the Academy, will join in a grand final choral performance. On Sept. 28 at 4:30 p.m., the Children's Voice Choir of the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, the Teatro Regio di Torino and the Children's Voice Choir of the Maggio Academy will take the stage in the Great Hall of the Theater. On Sept. 29, also at 4:30 p.m. and again in the Great Hall of the Theater, the Children's Voice Choir of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Teatro alla Scala Academy and the Chorus of the Maggio Academy will perform. On Oct. 5, this time in Mehta Hall at 4:30 p.m., the Children's Voice Choir of the Maggio Academy will be together with the Choir of the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova and the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

“We are very happy and proud to welcome all the children's voice choirs who, together with our choir, will gather on the stage of the Teatro del Maggio to give life to the first Festival dedicated to them,” is how the President of the Accademia del Maggio, Mario Curia, welcomes the young singers, ”The Festival will be an opportunity to meet, guided by the spirit of collaboration and enhancement of an artistic excellence in the Italian musical world. The Choirs will be true ambassadors of the importance and beauty of choral music.”  

“The productive effort put forth is enormous, and I can't help but also thank Superintendent Carlo Fuortes and the Teatro del Maggio for their support,” continues the artistic director of the Academy, Matteo Pais, ”We welcome to Florence about 600 young singers with their accompanying teachers and pianists, who in three different concerts will create an important moment of artistic and musical confrontation and at the same time bring a fundamental message of collaboration and sharing between realities that pursue the same mission. To symbolize this sharing of purpose, a piece inspired by Giacomo Puccini, composed for this Festival by Mauro Zuccante, will be performed by the assembled choirs at the end of each program. The hope, finally, is to leave the baton to another opera foundation so that this experience can become itinerant and cyclical, repeating itself each year in a different city and inviting that “networking” so important in today's cultural world. We, as the Accademia del Maggio, lay with this Festival the first seed of a project that I hope will grow and last over time.”

The Festival is realized with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture, SIAE, the Region of Tuscany, the Italian Confederation of Associations and Foundations for Lyrical and Symphonic Music, and under the patronage of AGIS and ANFOLS. Sponsor of the event: Unicoop Florence.