Archive

Building on the momentum of the 2024/25 season, which honoured Monteverdi, Bach, and other musical giants, we continue our journey with renewed energy. We begin with Vivaldi, performing in September 2025 at two prestigious festivals: the Serviti Festival in Mendrisio and the Varzi Festival in Varzi, Italy. To mark the 10th anniversary of the LAC, we will present Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos alongside polyphonic masterpieces by Giovanni Gabrieli and Domenico Scarlatti. The choir will also take part in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. Our close collaboration with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano continues as they dedicate their 81st season to Mozart. We will perform the Requiem in Milan in October 2025 and the Great Mass in C minor in March 2026. The year 2025 also commemorates the 500th anniversary of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Over the past fifteen years, we have devoted ourselves to his work, producing nearly thirty pieces and becoming a globally recognized reference point for his interpretation. To celebrate this milestone, we will host three concerts in some of the region’s most evocative churches, each preceded by an introductory lecture to guide listeners through the vastness and power of this Renaissance genius. Our commitment to J.S. Bach’s music is equally recognized. Our repeated invitations to the Leipzig Bach Festival—where we are celebrated as the most distinctive Latin performers—are among the many international accolades earned by I Barocchisti and the Coro RSI. In collaboration with the Fondazione Adriana Fasolis-Brambilla Pro Musica et Natura, the Associazione I Barocchisti continues to support emerging artists and esteemed colleagues in their independent endeavors. We have hosted Vanni Moretto’s orchestra, Atalanta Fugiens, and the Sinfonie Milanesi project. We’ve supported Swiss Music Prize winner Luca Pianca in conducting Bach cantatas and madrigals with his Ensemble Claudiana. This year, we are proud to support our long-standing bassoonist Giulia Genini and her ensemble, Concerto Scirocco, on a Scandinavian tour, presenting one of their European programs for the first time in Ticino. Since its founding, the choir has worked closely with the Radio Orchestra—now the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana—building a rich archive of joint productions. This year, we aim to deepen our collaboration with I Barocchisti. To this end, nine composers from Southern Switzerland have been commissioned to write the nine movements of a Requiem Mass entitled Requiem in Tempore Belli. As in previous years, it will be performed at the Good Friday Spiritual Concert in Bellinzona, with additional performances planned in Mendrisio and Locarno. After a long absence, I Barocchisti will return to the Ascona Music Weeks, joined by the dazzling flautist Maurice Steger. To celebrate its 90th anniversary in December 2026, the Coro RSI will revive the concerts that marked its debut, in collaboration with OSI and I Barocchisti. The three ensembles will also unite for a major event honouring Beethoven’s anniversary in 2027. We remain deeply committed to engaging young audiences and schools across all regions and levels. This commitment will be reflected in concert-lectures on Palestrina and a special Baroque music initiative titled Barockissimo!. We’re still here. United in our mission to create music that heals and brings people together. Enjoy listening. Diego Fasolis

Extraordinary concerts will be held in Locarno in honour of the healthcare workers involved during the pandemic and in Bellinzona in aid of the Associazione Mani per il Nepal. The 'Caro Sassone' concert in the auditorium will celebrate the young 'Italian' Handel. The highlight of the season may well be Bach's magnificent 'Passion According to John' at the LAC during Easter. On Good Friday in Bellinzona, the Coro RSI will perform Brahms' 'German Requiem' in a large formation, while a chamber ensemble of Barocchisti will bring the Accademia Filarmonica Romana's concert season at the Teatro Argentina to a close.

There will be four concerts featuring Bach's repertoire, including a recital by Fasolis on the organ of San Nicolao, 40 years after the inauguration of the Mascioni instrument, and a performance of The Well-Tempered Clavier by our acclaimed harpsichordist, Francesco Cera. There will also be an evening dedicated to Klaus Mertens, a gold medallist in the J. S. Bach competition, as well as a concert celebrating the 75^(th) birthday of the renowned interpreter of Bach's cantatas. There will also be a double programme of Italian-style cantatas for the second invitation to perform at the prestigious Leipzig Bach Festival. Various projects dedicated to the Cremonese genius Monteverdi are planned, including an important event featuring the Ticino maestro Luca Pianca. A Swiss music prize-winner and an acknowledged madrigal specialist, Pianca will perform with the soloists of his 'Claudiana' ensemble, covering works by composers ranging from Monteverdi to Marenzio. The programme will include the Litany of the Blessed Virgin and the Sixth Book of Madrigals. For the Monteverdi Festival in Cremona, the opera 'The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland' will be performed. Finally, contrafacta of famous Monteverdi madrigals set to Latin and religious texts will be performed in concert in the beautiful setting of the Church of Santa Maria in Calanca. We are delighted to present the world premiere of a piece by Ivo Antognini, the winner of this year Swiss Music Prize. Inspired by the traditional Mendrisio 'Stabat Mater', his composition has been written for our choir and the UNESCO historical processions. To round off the season, we have two extraordinary non-subscription events of great appeal: Puccini's ‘Le Villi’ youth opera to mark his anniversary, and Beethoven's ‘Ninth Symphony’ with I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, the Coro RSI will join the Conservatory's orchestra for performances in Ticino, conducted by Diego Fasolis.

Two other autumn events will celebrate the music of the Leipzig Kantor. At the end of September, guest instrumentalists from the Teatro Armonico di Vicenza will collaborate with the Coro RSI at the Auditorio for 'Festkantaten'. 'L'arte della fuga' will also be performed in orchestral form during the LAC season. Vanni Moretto, the Barocchisti's long-standing double bass player, will perform rare Milanese symphonies from the Napoleonic era with his Atalanta Fugiens ensemble in Lugano. Meanwhile, Handel's 'Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno' will be produced for the Opéra de Lausanne. Demonstrating its versatility, the Coro RSI will perform alongside the Gambe di Legno Consort in an epiphany concert, and will also perform Verdi's Traviata as part of the LAC opera programme, as well as Donizetti's Requiem at the traditional Good Friday concert in Bellinzona.