Elba Europe Music Island - 2022 Programme

The 26th edition of the "Elba European Music Island" will be held from August 28th to September 11th in Portoferraio, and the main seat of the concerts will be in the Roman Villa in Linguella, as well as in other municipalities of the Island like Capoliveri, Rio, Marciana and Marciana Marina. For more than one reason this will be a special edition: while, in 2021, we celebrated 25 years of the existence of this Festival that over the years has gained more and more international prestige, thus ensuring its existence has become more and more widely known, the year 2022 represents the start of a new phase, a new beginning, marked by the birth of the Elba Festival Opera, a daring project with the aim of enrichening the event even more.

A special edition that can only depend on what is happening in the world, above all in the Ukraine. This is the year when the Festival will be the carrier of a heartfelt message of support, and the Roman composer Alessandro Annunziata will be commissioned to compose a piece played by a very young Ukrainian talent who will then be awarded the Elba Festival Prize of 2022.

The Elba Festival Orchestra, that will appear in front of the public on three, separate occasions, on the 5th, 7th and 10th of September and will consist of an international symphonic formation of 35 elements, including both established soloists and also young musicians. The latter will be able to take part in a training course that will last a whole week and hence be able to compare themselves with experienced artists who have various types of repertoire. It is only right that the Festival kindly thank the composer, pianist and Colombian orchestra director Arturo Cuéllar for his precious help in making this project come true.

Over the days that the Festival takes place, a special mention will also be given to Pier Paolo Pasolini to celebrate 100 years after his date of his birth. The special Pasolini event will be held on September 6th, and the main guests will be the members of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Choir who were our guests also in last year's edition of the Festival; among the music pieces in the programme, one of the first for this particular occasion will be by the composer Virginia Guastella.

As always, there will also be some jazz pieces played by the Enrico Rava quartet, the most international jazz player (on August 29th in Portoferraio) and also the guitarist from Benin Lionel Loueke (on September 3rd in Capoliveri).

The Festival closes on September 11th with a special dedication to the seventh art in occasion of another centenary: a film show of the expressionist masterpiece "Nosferatu the vampire" by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, a silent film of 1922 put to live music by the Octuor de France ensemble.

As we finalize the details of the Festival, we foresee other musicians who will take part too, all at international level, like the famous pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja as well as the cello players Mischa Maisky and Mario Brunello, the latter who has been the unforgettable guest at the "Elba Music Island of Europe" right since the first edition.