The jazz and improvised music festival Una Striscia di Terra Feconda, born in 1998, will reach its twenty-seventh edition in 2024. The concerts will take place in Rome at the Casa del Jazz and in the Auditorium Parco della Musica (in collaboration with Fondazione Musica per Roma, historical partner and co-producer of the festival), as well as in the Regional Multidisciplinary Cultural Center - Spazio Rossellini: two concerts will in fact be held at Spazio Rossellini and in the cinema of the Cine-TV Roberto Rossellini institute, in the historic room of the Ponti-De Laurentiis group, also involving the students of the Institute in the creation of videos and interviews with the artists, in order to create a film entitled '' ROME A CITY OPEN TO JAZZ''. Other concerts are planned in the Region in Civitavecchia, in collaboration with ATCL. Furthermore, museums such as the Civic Zoology Museum in Rome and the Scacchi Museum in Gallese (Viterbo) will also be exploited, a choice that aims to intercept new audiences and enrich spaces designed for other functions with new contents.
The artistic directors Paolo Damiani and Armand Meignan have always defended and valorised European jazz with conviction, sharing the same poetics: Meignan founded Europajazz in 1980, among the first to have imagined new paths for research European jazz. Damiani created Rumori Mediterranei in Roccella Jonica in 1982, planning new experiments for over thirty years starting from our ethnic roots, linked to popular singing and the sounds and silences of Southern Italy. The exhibition so far has been dedicated exclusively to Italian and French artists often invited to play together; from 2024 it was decided to open to Europe. As always, in 2024 there will be ample space for original productions, residencies and new talents, with particular attention to gender balance.
This idea of a festival involves many other risks than simply booking groups on tour, as happens in the majority of apparently similar events. In fact, it is necessary to have the artists rehearse original compositions conceived ad hoc for a few days, and therefore propose to the public something unknown, never heard before. Or program talented unknown young people, with the knowledge that in this case they will not be able to count on an adequate turnout of spectators. However, shouldn't these be some of the main functions of every festival?
The commission of new compositions and the many absolute or national premieres have always represented the main characteristic of Una stripe di terra fecunda. Over time, the festival has created dozens of new formations, youth orchestras, co-productions and now stands out both for its history and for its 'mission', never betrayed, that of the search for the new: research that must develop in the medium and long term , for an effective and profound action it takes time and trust in the artists and the public.
Other highlights of the festival are:
- the SIAE AWARD: in agreement with the prestigious monthly Musica Jazz (the most authoritative Italian specialized magazine), the first new talents emerging from the Top Jazz ranking, one of the most significant annual referendums, are invited to play together. The 2024 winners are MICHELE BONIFATI, guitar, and SADE MANGIARACINA piano. They will play together with the double bass player FEDERICA MICHISANTI, winner of the Top Jazz as the best Italian musician ever.
- the ARTIST RESIDENCE, whose protagonists will be the winners of the national tender issued together with the Insulae Lab Production Center directed by Paolo Fresu, with the support of the Casa del Jazz. Dozens of applications from groups under 35 arrived, first place went to the SYMPATHEIA quartet, directed by GIULIA DAMICO; the band will host the well-known composer and violinist REGIS HUBY.
- For the section dedicated to children in collaboration with IJVAS (jazz goes to school association): the workshop/concert for children and teenagers which will be directed by the composer Massimo Nunzi.
Una Striscia di Terra Feconda is also characterized by the unprecedented synergy not only of ideas but also of resources that has been created between partners of the highest prestige who have supported it in recent years: the Ministry of Culture, the Regional Museums Directorate of Lazio, the SIAE, the Municipality of Rome - Department of Cultural Policies, the Lazio Region, the Musica per Roma Foundation and the Casa del Jazz, THE MUNICIPALITIES I and II, the French Embassy in Rome through the Nuovi Mecenati Foundation, RAI -Radio3, the Nicola Bulgari Foundation, the INSULAE LAB Production Center, the Municipalities of Civitavecchia and Gallese, Saint Louis Collège of Music, MIdJ (jazz musicians association), the INPS PSMSAD fund, ATCL (Theatrical Association of the Municipalities of Lazio), the I-Jazz festival network, IJVAS, the monthly Musica Jazz.
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