After being cancelled last year in 2020 due to the Corona pandemic situation, this year’s edition of Music Fest Perugia happened between August 1-13. Managing a festival during the Corona is extremely challenging: managing the regulations during concerts (masks, green passes, distancing) as well as protecting students and teachers during lessons and masterclasses. A festival with such conditions could seem impossible for many but we, at Music Fest Perugia, welcomed the challenge and made this festival happen while keeping track of all the regulations.
We had the safety of everyone in mind: Most comers to the festival were vaccinated (we also had very young participants who couldn’t). Students, parents and teachers were required to be tested on the day of their arrival, even if they had a PCR from a few days ago. Concerts halls had only two people seating per row. In Masterclasses seats were always very spaced and during lessons masks were required. In concerts, the orchestra’s string players wore masks as well. The regulations in Italy got stricter from August 6 with the Green Pass regulations and we have taken care of checking them during concerts. (Mask were taken off for mostly group pictures). While being outside, masks were not required.
No one felt sick or had any symptoms during the festival, or reported being sick when coming back home.
This 15th edition of Music Fest Perugia was less crowded than we are used to, but it was as intensive as it can be with concerts every day – Master Recitals, Student Marathon concerts and orchestra concerts in the evenings. In the afternoons Masterclasses by world class pianists as Ilana Vered our music director, Jerome Lowenthal, Jan Jiracek von Arnim and Ursula Oppens.
For me personally, this edition brought a new challenge – being head of production and management for the whole festival for the first time, while at the same time conducting the orchestra concerts. From the most very basic details as organizing the halls, fixing the lessons and masterclasses schedule, through practice rooms, hotels, teachers arrival and departure, and until communicating with Perugia’s commune, as well as many more issues and challenges that only a festival can bring.
This year a new collaboration happened at the festival – our orchestra was the local Umbria Ensemble directed by cellist Cecilia Bereoli and violist Luca Ranieri, an exciting group of string players who showed great musicality and capacities during the festival. The concerti played with the students were by Bach for Violin and Piano, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Rachmaninoff, as well as various arias by Mozart and Puccini.
(Since the regulations didn’t allow us to have a full orchestra, we arranged string arrangements for most concerti that were played.)
After a successful 15th edition, we are now looking for our 2022 edition which will take place in Perugia and Florence as well, hoping this time for open halls, full orchestra and a large number of students.
See you all next summer!
