The Emilia Romagna Festival (ERF) takes place from 20 July to 16 September. The 2014 programme is a musical journey that goes around the world covering it with a clear choice and moving on solid tracks: the past, with the Bach project entrusted to Ramin Bahrami (artist in residence) and the contemporary, with an important presence, the world première of "Warum? Wozu? Wodurch?" from the legendary composer Sofija Gubajdulina, fresh Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale, a piece of music history that will be in Romagna for this première, and then with the EU project MUSMA which sends us over the radio waves of Europe.

Fellow travelers will be the many winners of International Competitions, and several international orchestras, such as the Filarmonica Teatro Regio Torino, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the OFUNAM of Mexico City, the two prestigious Chinese Philharmonic Orchestras of Qingdao and Hangzhou, the latter in a moving tribute to Claudio Abbado and an extraordinary presence, the "Olympic" concert with the Moscow Soloists and Yuri Bashmet, great performer of the closing ceremony at the Olympic Games in Sochi.

“Not a day goes by that someone comes out with phrases like ‘you have to invest in culture’, or ‘Verdi, Puccini, Rossini are the representatives of Italy in the world’ or even ‘put back the brand culture at the heart of the investments’. All this makes us smile, but it is a sad and bitter smile, although, as Italians, we are used to sterile utterances and advertisement style proclamations. ERF reacts to all this with its usual passion and good will, thanks to the support of many people and institutions of the area (first of all the Emilia-Romagna Region and the EU) and numerous foreign institutions, from China to Armenia and Mexico, who believe and sustain the importance and value of making culture and be present in our country,” says Massimo Mercelli, President and Artistic Director of the Emilia Romagna Festival, Vice President of the European Festivals Association (EFA).

For details on the programme please visit the ERF’s new website.