MUSIC AMONG THE PEAKS

The first novelty of this edition of The Sounds of the Dolomites festival, is not the name of a specific artist, or a particular project. It is about words, twelve points of a Manifesto explaining what awaits participants in this unique experience that has been going on for 28 years in the Trentino Dolomites.

This year’s festival is not unique due to a specific artist or particular project but rather due to 13 phrases; ‘to listen’, ‘Dolomites’, ‘sounds’, ‘open spaces’, ‘silence’, ‘light’, ‘high lands’, ‘hiking’, ‘commitment’, ‘sharing’, ‘respect’, ‘tradition’, and ‘accessibility’. These phrases make up a manifesto which explains what awaits participants in this unique experience which has taken place every year for 28 years.

It is perhaps easier to describe the festival through what it is ‘not’. The festival is not easy; each musician and member of the audience are required to hike to the location of the performance. The performances are also not ordinary; every year new ideas and sounds run along the paths and walls, new locations and scenery are added to the itinerary. The unique dialogue between artists, audiences, and nature is one aspect that remains constant through the years.

This year, the festival consists of 17 events from 23 August to 1 October, giving participants a chance to discover the changing of the seasons in the mountains alongside with leading musicians.

On Wednesday, 23 August, at Malga Tassulla in Val Nana at the foot of Mount Peller in the Brenta Dolomites, the festival will open with a concert by Erlend Øye and La Comitiva. Øye, a representative of Kings of Convenience of the New Acoustic Movement, will combine Nordic music and Mediterranean sounds, creating new and exceptional music which is partly inspired by the musical styles and instruments of Southern Italy.

Two days later, on 25 August at the Lakes of Bombasel in the wild Lagorai group, the festival will celebrate the exciting return of American trumpeter Dave Douglas who last performed 20 years ago. This year he is celebrating his album Mountain Passages, a composition of 13 pieces inspired by rural and Ladin culture, the exact spirit of the festival.  20 years ago, he debuted his piece at Rifugio Boè and Rifugio Brentei with great critical acclaim.

On 28 August at Prati Col in Val Canali, Tatiana Eva Marie, a promising rising jazz star, will play with the Avalon Jazz Band taking the audience along a journey through the music of Django Renhardt. Next on the itinerary is Frida Bollani Magoni, an extremely talented Italian artist, who will perform as part of the festival while surrounded by the incredible scenery of Val Brenta.

Classical music headlines at one of the festival’s highlights, the Sunrise of the Dolomites, which returns to its historic setting of Col Margherita in the Fassa Dolomites on 1 September. The sunrise concert is a highlight each year and this year, Mario Brunello will hold a concert at dawn accompanied by a Polish Cello Quartet made up of four leading cellists.

The programme continues on 8 September in one of the Festival's new locations, Sagron Mis, with a concert by Le Petite Écurie, an ensemble of five oboes that will perform a mix of contemporary and traditional music on instruments dating back to the Baroque. On 17 September, Czech violinist Iva Bittova is set to perform at Passo Lavazè, while on 21 September at Rifugio Roda di Vaèl, the historic Quartetto della Scala, re-founded in 2001 by four young members of the Theater Orchestra will take their turn to perform at the peaks. Friday 22 September sees Edgar Moreau, a young but already widely celebrated cellist, perform at Vallesinella Bassa.

Representing jazz music at the festival, the soloists of the celebrated Mnozil Brass who are now reunited in the form of the trio Wielder, Gansch and Paul, will perform on 12 September on Monte Agnello. Following this  performance is a tribute to one of the world’s great cinema soundtrack composers, Ennio Morricone. Luciano Biondini and Rosario Giuliani will perform this tribute on 14 September at Col Bel on Buffaure in the Fassa Dolomites, where the Maestro's unforgettable melodies will be given new lease of life in the arrangements of the two jazz artists. A second tribute to another great Italian singer-songwriter, Pino Daniele, will be performed on 19 September at Villa Welsperg in Val Canali. This tribute, aptly named ‘The sky is full of stars’, is set to be performed by the duo Fabrizio Bosso and Julian Oliver Mazzariello.

Musical Theater takes to the mountains on 6 September at Canvere mountain hut above Bellamonte; ‘Polymer, a plastic puppet’, a fable set to music written by Italian actor and writer Giobbe Covatta revisits the Pinocchio fairy tale with a contemporary twist, telling the story of the climate emergency and the pollution of the planet. 

For the songwriting aspect of the festival, Jack Savoretti returns for another concert on 16 September in the Brenta Dolomites at the Andalo mountain hut, a new location for this year.

The Fassa Dolomites set the stage for another of the festival’s standout events, Trekking dei Suoni, which is set to take place 22-24 September. Three exceptional musicians, Paolo Fresu, Daniele Di Bonaventura, Pierpaolo Vacca, accompanied also by Giulio Ferraro and Giosue Mazzei (students of the F. Bomporti Conservatory) will join attendees on the three day trek to provide respite through music along the way. The trek culminates in a live concert of ‘Tango Macondo’, a show of music and poetry produced by the Teatro Stabile di Bolzano, at the Rifugio Contrin, one of Trentino’s traditional mountain huts, at the foot of the Marmolada.

The Vivani-Pradalago mountain hut will see a concert with high comic potential on 30 September. Sergei Prokofiev’s musical fairytale ‘Peter and the Wolf’ will be transformed into ‘Pierno! What about the wolf?’ by the F. Bomporti Music Academy orchestra, a narrator and four soloists of Banda Osiris. The tale is a exploration in the world of musical fantasy where Prokofiev’s melodies intertwine with those of other famous composers and derail into different genres, from Walt Disney soundtracks to the music of the Village People.

Singer, songwriter and iconic of the Italian music scene, Carmen Consoli, will star in the closing concert, I Suoni delle Dolomiti. Carmen will perform at Camp Centener above Madonna di Campiglio on 1 October, where autumn will be showing its colours.

Detailed information at www.visittrentino.info/isuonidelledolomiti

The Sounds of the Dolomites is a cultural and environmental tourism and communication project conceived and curated by Trentino Marketing together with the Aziende per il Turismo della Val di Fassa, Val di Fiemme, San Martino di Castrozza, Passo Rolle, Primiero and Vanoi, Val di Non, Madonna di Campiglio and Dolomiti-Paganella and with the collaboration of SAT, Associazione Rifugi, MUSE, Guide Alpine del Trentino, Soccorso Alpino del Trentino, and Croce Rossa del Trentino.

Artistic direction by Mario Brunello.