Thanks to the collaboration with the Società Aquilana dei Concerti “B. Barattelli”, the 2025 Smarano International Early Keyboards Academy starts in a remarkable new venue: L’Aquila. The project unfolds as an educational journey that blends music, research, and the enhancement of cultural heritage, with particular attention to the region’s rich organ-building tradition. The Academy’s musical residency in L’Aquila will begin with visits to some of the city’s historic organs—remarkable instruments that allow for the rediscovery of early music within its original soundscape. These encounters will offer students and audiences a unique, immersive experience, especially valuable for a deeper understanding of the musical language of composers like Girolamo Frescobaldi. Complementing the educational program, two public concerts will give voice to a dialogue between internationally acclaimed performers and rare gems of the early music repertoire. The first concert will take place on Friday, July 25, 2025, at 9:00 PM in the evocative setting of the Basilica of San Bernardino. The evening’s protagonist will be Hans Davidsson, who will guide the audience through a musical journey spanning a century of stylistic evolution—from refined Renaissance structures to the expressive freedoms of the Baroque. The program opens with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, a Dutch composer who masterfully merged the virtuosity of English virginalists with the contrapuntal traditions of the Flemish-Italian style. His Variations on “Ballo del Granduca”, based on a theme from Emilio de’ Cavalieri’s La Pellegrina (composed for the wedding of Ferdinando I de’ Medici and Christine of Lorraine), and the Fantasia on the Hexachord—a sophisticated polyphonic work built on the famed Ut (Do), Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La—showcase his creative brilliance. With Frescobaldi, we enter the heart of the Italian style. His Bergamasca, Capriccio sopra La, Sol, Fa, Re, Mi, and Toccata quarta together portray a multifaceted musical profile that balances rigour, technical skill, surprise, and lyricism. This is followed by Michelangelo Rossi’s Toccata quarta, rich in bold chromaticism, dissonance, and structural freedom. The Passacaglia by Dieterich Buxtehude exemplifies the power and expressiveness of North German Baroque—a form that deeply inspired the young Bach. The program closes with Pasquini’s Ricercare with fugue in several modes, a synthesis of Roman counterpoint and brilliant keyboard writing. The second concert will be held on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at 9:00 PM at the Church of Sant’Antonio fuori le mura, and will feature Bernard Foccroulle, a leading figure in the European organ scene. His program begins in 16th-century Naples with music by Valente, a blind composer and organist known for his innovative spirit. Another visionary musician deprived of sight, the Spanish composer Antonio de Cabezón, will be represented through his Hymn Ave Maris Stella “A tres”, in which intricate contrapuntal lines are woven around the Gregorian melody. Cavazzoni, combining contrapuntal rigour with expressive freedom, reveals in his ricercari a tendency toward thematic unity. His settings of French chansons and liturgical themes showcase a variety of styles and ornamentation. Influenced by the Flemish school, his work anticipates elements found in Frescobaldi’s music, as demonstrated in the three selected pieces. From 17th-century Spain, Francisco Correa de Arauxo stands out for his modal language, use of dissonance, virtuosity, and rhetorical depth. His Tiento 2 de segundo tono explores the Dorian mode with close-knit imitations and ornamental passages, while Tiento 26 a modo de cançón adopts a more songful, dance-inspired style, echoing the rhythms of secular chansons. The program concludes in Italy with Claudio Merulo, a composer and performer celebrated in his time for both his artistry and learned composition.

Admission is free.