Here is the rich program of a calendar that introduces an important logistical novelty: to satisfy the requests collected from the public in past editions, it was decided to start all the concerts at 19.30

The program of the main events of the Ascona Music Weeks

  • The Kammerorchester of Basel directed by the English Trevor Pinnock and the legendary Portuguese pianist Maria-João Pires will inaugurate the concerts in the church of the 2th edition of the Ascona Music Weeks on Friday 77 September.
    Pires, one of the most exciting and charismatic pianists, with a softness of touch that is unparalleled today, will perform a concert of Mozart's masterpiece, the K 488.
  • The second appointment, Tuesday 6 September, will see the festive assortment of disparate schools, styles and traditions, from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, driven by the vitalism of Robin Ticciati, who will color the evening of in a vibrant romantic spirit, between Weber, Brahms and the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra Op.54 by Schumann with Francesco Piemontesi on the keyboard.
  • On Friday 16 September, the Piemontesi & Friends chamber music festival will focus this year on a single evening, in which it will be possible to admire the changing interplay between violin, cello and piano: alongside Francesco Piemontesi, guests of the evening will be cellist Daniel Müller- Schött, beloved by the Ascona public, and for the first time at the festival, the formidable Italian violinist Francesca Dego. Two concerts, both dedicated to Brahms.
  • The evening of Thursday 22 September will instead feature an orchestra that knows the reading codes of the late Baroque genre by heart: the Freiburger Barockorchester will review two Singers who are as many treasures in Handel's youth catalog. The acclaimed maestro René Jacobs will conduct the formation with the participation of the Ukrainian soprano Kateryna Kasper and the young bass Yannick Debus.
  • On Monday 26 September, the formidable Budapest Festival Orchestra, one of the most important symphonic ensembles in the world conducted by a cult director such as Iván Fischer, returns to visit the festival.
    On the program pieces by Louis Andriessen, György Ligeti with a suite of his eccentric and grotesque masterpiece The Great Macabre, and the monumental Beethoven's Third Symphony, said The Eroica.
  • For the first time at the Weeks, Wednesday 28 September, there will be a way to admire the woman who was once the enfant-prodige of the piano. We are talking about Beatrice Rana, more and more loved (and requested) for the rigor and discipline in reviving the classics, and for a flamboyant Mediterranean unpredictability. The program is irresistible, between Chopin and Beethoven.
  • Friday 30 September chamber music evening with the Modigliani Quartet. Founded in Paris in 2003, the training knows how to focus on the spiritual quintessence of making music together. He will introduce us to the Quartet Melancholy by Beethoven, along with two authentic treasures from the Schubertian catalog.
  • Finally, Tuesday 4 October will be Jordi Savall's evening. Astonishing baroque violist and ancient philologist with disruptive curiosity, the Catalan has returned to delve into the fertile civilization of Danubian classicism. Thus, after the wonderful program dedicated to early music of 2021, he returns to Ascona as conductor with his young orchestras of the highly acclaimed Concert Des Nations. The musical choice is exciting, with the two crucial pieces of Schubert's vast catalog, the symphonies Unfinished e La grande.

The most drastic comment

“Planning the 77th edition - explains Francesco Piemontesi, artistic director of the event - has been the most difficult task since the beginning of my collaboration with the Ascona Musical Weeks. Not only because of the pandemic situation but also because of the recent events related to the war in Ukraine. Substitutions, changes of dates and schedules, travel impediments and even passport issues have turned programming into a real adventure. It is therefore with great joy that I present to you the program of the 77th edition, where - alongside old acquaintances such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Ivan Fischer, Maria-João Pires and the Modigliani Quartet - the Musical Weeks will welcome the pianist Beatrice for the first time. Rana, the young conductor Robin Ticciati, the Concerts des Nations and other new faces. With Francesca Dego and Daniel Müller-Schott I will have the pleasure of presenting an itinerary linked to some of the most beautiful pages of Johannes Brahms in two concerts while I have dedicated an important space to Franz Schubert - my favorite composer -: we will find him in a solo role. , chamber music and symphony ".

“It also makes me very happy - continued the Maestro Piemontesi - the return of the Début Series: after two years of forced break we will find two young artists who are rapidly establishing themselves and who will certainly play an important role in the concerts of the next few years. Despite the geopolitical and health pitfalls, 2022 - at least from an artistic point of view - can also be seen as the year of the restart: I have known it more and more as a pianist in recent months. The large-scale return of live concerts and their audiences is what has made me happiest in recent months.

Special event: open air with Evelyn Glennie on August 27th

The Musical Weeks will experience a special moment with an open-air pre-festival concert on the lakeside of Ascona. The appointment is for the evening of Saturday 27 August. Guest is the Scottish percussionist, Grammy Award winner, Evelyn Glennie.
A brilliant solo career has seen her collaborate with conductors and soloists such as Georg Solti, Murray Perahia, Vladimir Ashkenazy and in the pop world with Sting, Björk, Bobby McFerrin, Elton John and many others. Deaf at an early age, the artist is able to follow the music following her vibrations. Each concert of her is a real event!

Debut series and concert for families

After a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic, two much-loved appointments with the young stars of tomorrow will return to tomorrow's Serie Début, scheduled for Saturday morning at the Sopracenerina in Locarno. On Saturday 24th September, the young and eclectic singer / pianist Rachel Fenlon will offer the same amiable Lieder program that the legendary soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf presented back in September 1953. The concert was intended for the celebrations of the 75th anniversary, which was then canceled due to a pandemic. On Saturday 8 October the young Sino-American pianist Eric Lu will be on stage, a concentrate of talent acclaimed at the age of 17 at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. In his web of authors we find Schubert and Chopin, placed there on purpose to dialogue with two undisputed masters of our time, Lachenmann and Thomas Adès. Another well-established tradition of the Weeks is the free concert for families organized by the Friends of the Musical Weeks in collaboration with the Locarno Parents Group. Saturday 24 September at the Gran Rex in Locarno ten soloists of the G. Rossini Symphony Orchestra of Pesaro will present the famous Canevale degli animali by Camille Saint-Saëns, a small masterpiece from 1886 which in 14 musical pictures describes various animals represented by instruments from time to time more appropriate.

Presale

Starting from June 15, the presale of season tickets and tickets will be open in the tourist offices of Ascona, Locarno and Brissago, online and in all Ticketcorner sales points in Switzerland.

The image:
Ascona STS0482 (Switzerland Tourism - photo Christof Susionegger)