VISIONE Edition 2023

Vision, an intimate process of imagination, representation, interpretation that characterises artists and composers’ creative experience, mankind’s one, which over the centuries creates an ever richer possibility of listening and understanding, by stimulating an evolutionary path.

A magical territory, capable of unique suggestions that leave souls and senses breathless, and the luminous colours of authors from four centuries of history; together they will give the opportunity to pause and contemplate nature and creations from the privileged point of view of those who have left these traces of inestimable value, constant and timeless nourishment.

Vision of luminous stimuli capable of impressing iridescent colours on the mind even during the darkest hours of the night. Apparitions, images, extraordinary scenes, real or imagined… states of ecstasy, miraculous and supernatural situations, utopian dreams.

From the revolutionary ‘Don Quixote’ by Cervantes, Georg Philipp Telemann uses sounds to draw the path of this eccentric character capable of impossible deeds in the name of fanciful hallucinations, perhaps only achievable for a mad and passionate soul.

We will listen to the inner stirrings of Schubert, who taps on the songs and legends of popular culture just as poets, writers and figurative artists do. We will trace a path, glimpse a possibility, a space in which to walk, discover and learn more about ourselves and the universe we are immersed in. Thanks to this message, the soul of another creator like Dvoràk rediscovers the essence of his people, of distant winds loaded carrying a deep meditative melancholy alternating with a pulsion both joyful and soothing,  in its simplicity and immediacy. A kaleidoscope that approaches in its intangibility the colouristic and emotional palette of his beloved predecessor, continuous poetry amidst intoxicating flashes and harmonies that make nature’s elements visible through fresh and curious eyes.

With the same gaze turned to nature, Pēteris Vasks, our contemporary, discovers in the Baltic region phenomena unknown to us, similar to magical supernatural creatures that populate the skies of those distant lands. Witnessing the aurora borealis is an act of trust and great patience, precisely because it is unpredictable in its manifestations, as it is hoping and having faith in a better world capable of listening and sharing,  while respecting the nature that surrounds us.

The poetics of this work is therefore very close to the inner condition that drove Béla Bartók to leave his homeland in 1940, following the outbreak of the wave of violence and intolerance that was enveloping Europe. His Divertimento is an architecture flavored with references and dialogues between instruments that come alive thanks to the mixture of a classic antique style and a poetic carrier of tradition and folk wisdom such as the songs of Hungarian culture.

Musicians and artists capable of sharing the experience and emotions they have experienced in their rich musical journey, together with a great desire of exchange with the younger generations, will lead us through these physical and spiritual territories, sprinkled with tradition and tension towards a future made possible by the Vision

We will thus witness new encounters happening for the first time in our medieval Churches and Abbeys, in those Villas that overlook the dense waters of Lake Como, in the nature of the mountains and shores that surround this stretch of water that has always inspired artists of all kinds.

The friends of the festival, our devoted audience, will be involved in opportunities for dialogue, to fully enjoy the journey enclosed in the programmes of the numerous concerts; children and families will also have moments dedicated to them.

Open rehearsals with the young ensembles MACH Youth Orchestra and MACH Orchestra bring together musicians from all over the world and realities of great musical educational value such as Musicainsieme in Librino (Catania), the Ensemble Association in Barasso and the Experimental School of Music ‘R. Goitre’ in Colico.

Three weeks of great concerts in a deep and intoxicating relationship with breathtaking scenery, a privileged location for a Vision to be discovered, shared and experienced together.

Welcome to Festival “Musica sull’Acqua” 2023.

Francesco Senese

Art director