The Fiftieth Stresa Festival

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Fifty years are a long time in the life of a cultural institution like the Stresa Festival. Over this half century the high-quality, somewhat “elitist” summer concerts, as their founder Italo Trentinaglia de Daverio visualized them, have developed parallel with changes in Italy over these years. The “social base” of the public is broader, but we are still highly selective about our choice of musicians, orchestras and conductors. We can safely boast that the aristocracy of world classical music has enjoyed playing in the unique beauty of the sites around Lake Maggiore. In the early years the musicians were almost all “western”, but since the 1990s we have been able to call on the Slav world – particularly Russia – which offers a superb blend of musical talent and technique.
The Stresa Festival has paid particular attention to young people, as spectators, musicians or composers, and the concerts provide many of the listeners with their first magic taste of classical music. For musicians it may be a launching ramp to international recognition. We run academy programs for soloists, singers and conductors, and composition competitions.
The Festival has broadened its horizons largely thanks to the inventiveness and fine-tuned musical sensitivity of Gianandrea Noseda, who has been its Artistic Director since 2000. But in our long history, despite the inevitable difficulties, we have been enormously encouraged by the constant support from public and private sponsors, from the Borromeo family, from Carlo Maria Badini and Ervin Veg – sadly, no longer with us - and from our highly motivated staff.
Now we offer music from the Renaissance to the present day, from solos to symphonies and opera. We have expanded our venues from Stresa to other lovely sites around Lake Maggiore and the Festival is well-equipped now to tackle the challenges of the next half-century!

Giovanni Medeot
President