The “Festival dell’Ascensione” is a festival of sacred music organised by the NOEMA Association under the patronage of the City of Milan and in collaboration with the Civica Scuola di Liuteria di Milano, Milan's municipal violin-making school, which provides training to the new generations of luthiers and supplies some of the instruments used in the concerts. The Festival is based on three pillars:
One protagonist: the voice, both as part of a choir and as a soloist;
The repertoire: focused on sacred music, the programmes spans from Early Music (Gregorian and Ambrosian chant) to the first half of the 17th century, when Milan became a point of reference for hundreds of artists, musicians and music theorists;
The instruments: for the first time, instruments are not merely the "means" of artistic expression, but artistic items themselves.
The Cologni Foundation for the Métiers d’Art is the main supporter and promoter of this project, the aim of which is to spotlight the extraordinary tradition of Italian violin-making, which dates back to the world-famous workshops of Amati, Stradivari, Antegnati....
The festival is named after the period in which it takes place: the Christian Solemnity of the Ascension, celebrated six weeks after Easter.
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