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Gianandrea Noseda presents the 2008 Festival PDF Print E-mail
‘900: shadows and lights

The Twentieth Century seems so distant: so near in time yet so unfamiliar.
In certain aspects, it has been an extraordinary century: important scientific discoveries, quick advance of technology, significative social conquers; in another point of view it has been terrible: two bloodstained world wars, several ferocious and alienating dictatorships, uncontrolled deterioration of our ecosystem.
The Twentieth Century has unsettled human certainties: after positive moments of development and growth there have been moments of sheer regression, to strong boosts of open-mindedness and will to share have followed periods of ferocious will of power. Smiles and hope have often been supplanted by tears and desperation.
The rapid alternation of Shadows and Lights has unsettled human certainties: art, and music with it, has followed the dramatic and contradictory path represented by the history of the Twentieth Century in a precise, punctual and critical way, becoming an important part of the same journey.
1900’s music has threatened our aesthetic convictions: it has discovered new horizons, it has opened new paths, it has experimented new languages, always being in strong relation with the highlights of human conquers. I hope these few years that separate us from the Twentieth Century will permit us to approach - with clearness of thought and emotional liberty - the great music that has characterized and accompanied this period, delineating with overwhelming precision its Shadows and Lights. My wish goes to a renewal in attitude, which could bring us to appreciate 1900’s unquestioned masterpieces with curiosity and inner honesty.  

Gianandrea Noseda
Artistic Director