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Settimane Musicali di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore - Stresa Festival
The name of the Festival has been modified to "Settimane Musicali di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore" with the intention of broadening its horizons and creating a figurative bridge to the opposite shore of Lago Maggiore. In addition to the great artists who regularly collaborate with the festival, an initiative of particular interest is the participation of the young winners of various international competitions. Some of these young artists have continued to become leading musicians of our time.
This festival has been an EFA member since 1976.
Festival Programme
Each EFA member manages its own Calendar. In case there is no programme availabable for this year, please visit the festival's own website.
History
The Festival Settimane Musicali di Stresa was founded in 1961 by the Venetian lawyer Italo Trentinaglia de Daverio inspired by his great love of music rather than with any interest in commercial gain. He grew up in a musical environment: his father, Erardo, was General Director of the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, General Manager of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and also an avid composer. The Trentinaglia family owned a villa in Stresa and often hosted musical personalities such as Umberto Giordano and Arturo Toscanini who, together with Victor de Sabata, was one of their most frequent guests. They were all enchanted by the natural beauty and quiet quality of life they found in Stresa, as Stendhal and Wagner had been before them. It was during a staying of Avv. Trentinaglia in his villa that, in the autumn of 1961, the idea was born to create an annual event that would put Stresa on the international musical map.
On August 27th 1962, the Settimane Musicali di Stresa were inaugurated with a concert given by the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala conducted by Nino Sonzogno. Since that day, some of the world's most important musicians have participated in the festival including the pianists Arthur Rubinstein, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Nikita Magaloff, Alexis Weissenberg, Svjatoslav Richter, Maurizio Pollini, Dino Ciani, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Wilhelm Kempff, Martha Argerich, Claudio Arrau, Aldo Ciccolini and Radu Lupu; violinists such as Nathan Milstein, David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Gidon Kremer, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Salvatore Accardo, Uto Ughi and Shlomo Mintz; musical legends such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Maurice André, and André Segovia. Guest orchestras have included great institutions such as the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala (later the La Scala Philarmonic Orchestra), the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Petersburg, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Among the conductors that the festival has hosted are Carlo Maria Giulini (one of the festival’s most faithful supporters), Hermann Scherchen, Karl Böhm, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Claudio Abbado, Kirill Kondrashin, Vaclav Neumann, Riccardo Chailly, Kurt Masur, Yuri Temirkanov, Valery Gergiev and Kent Nagano.
Vocal recitals have been performed by international stars ranging from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, from Gundula Janowitz to Teresa Berganza, from Hermann Prey to Christa Ludwig and Nikolai Gedda.
In addition to the great artists who regularly collaborate with the festival, an initiative of particular interest is the participation of the young winners of various international competitions. Some of these young artists have continued to become leading musicians of our time such as Michele Campanella, Garick Ohlsson, Christoph Eschenbach, Murray Perahia, Jeffrey Swann and, more recently, Andrea Lucchesini, Maurizio Zanini and Nikolaj Znaider. This initiative is still an important part of the festival and, in addition to the winners of the leading instrumental competitions, Placido Domingo’s "Operalia" competition has also joined the list of collaborating organisations.
The Settimane Musicali di Stresa are member of the European Festivals Association and, in 1982, Stresa was the seat of the Annual General Assembly.
Initially held at the Palazzo dei Congressi di Stresa, on Isola Bella, in the marvellous Salone degli Arazzi as well as the Loggia Cashmere in the gardens of Isola Madre generously offered by Prince and Princess Borromeo, the Festival has expanded progressively its space including new and historical venues, combining music with art, culture and with the most evocative locations of the area.
Following this, there is the initiative of enriching the concert programme by a collaboration with prestigious theatres. In 2000 the closing concert at the Teatro La Scala of Milan received a great success, whilst in 2001 the Teatro Coccia in Novara and the Teatro Dal Verme in Milano will be the chosen theatres.
Since 1999, the name of the Festival has been modified to "Settimane Musicali di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore"; among the venues, there is the magical Hermitage Santa Caterina del Sasso where every year J.S. Bach’s Suite for cello solo are performed by a different musician. New venues are also Villa Pallavicino and the Collegio Rosmini in Stresa, the auditorium “La Fabbrica” in Villadossola, the Visconteo Castle in Vogogna, Villa San Remigio in Verbania, the Borromeo Castle in Angera, Villa Ponti in Arona as well as some churches in Verbania and Laveno.
From 1999 the Festival has its own "resident orchestra": since June 2000 the Festival has co-operated with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai to develop artistic co-productions.
Since June 2000 the Festival has a new artistic director: Gianandrea Noseda, young conductor that has achieved in a short time a solid position in the international panorama; invited by Valery Gergiev as Principal Guest Conductor at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in October 1997, he was then appointed Principal Conductor of the Orquesta de Cadaques, up to the appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
The presence of international symphonic and chamber orchestras and artists including both well-known and emerging conductors and soloists at the Festival ensure the continuation along the tracks that were laid out many years ago.
(Historical information have been taken from the book "30 years of International Festivals" by Giuseppe Pugliese).
