Broadening its horizons to the city’s suburbs, the ninth edition of the Venice Jazz Festival has slated its program for July 3-23. The festival, organized by Veneto Jazz, has the honor of using the extraordinary venue of Villa Pisani in Stra, and then lands in the enchanting places of the Lagoon of Venice as well as some of its mainland cities. Goran Bregovic (3 July), Ezio Bosso (6 July), Ludovico Einaudi (8 July) are indeed the three summer stars of Veneto Jazz, which after 10 years has reopened its doors to live music in one of the historical landmarks of the Brenta Riviera.
“As is our tradition, international artists perform side by side in the festival with lesser-known musicians who are ploughing new roads in their quest for originality,” comments the artistic director Giuseppe Mormile “A metropolitan festival spreading into the Venetian hinterland, but also daring to cross borders in terms of its contents between genres and nationalities. From the urban atmosphere of Chassol to the contemporary poetry of Piero Salvatori, from the flamenco of Juan Lorenzo to the crystal clear voice of Noa, to the melodic schemes of Renaud Garcia Fons, the festival will be a journey between different worlds of sound, performed in the magical spots this city and its surroundings have to offer. With the usual spotlight on young Italian jazz and its new types of language, of which Luca Alemanno and Piero Salvatori are its most original interpreters.”
After the Balcanic rhythms of Goran Bregovic and his unbridled Wedding & Funeral Orchestra; the metaphor of life in music in the “12 Rooms” by Ezio Bosso; the rarefied atmosphere of “Elements” by pianist Ludovico Einaudi; the festival comes back to the Lagoon on Saturday July 9, with the traditional inaugural event at Punta della Dogana, a show within the show on the floating platform at sunset with a concert by Barbarella’s Bang Bang, a London-based indie-folk band with a gypsy twist.
Piero Salvatori, a promising talent of Sony records, at the Chiesa della Pietà will alternate piano and cello with the refined, captivating use of’electronics (11 July). Extraordinary flamenco guitarist Juan Lorenzo, will play on the panoramic roof terrace of the Splendid Venice Hotel (12 July). Undefinable charismatic talent Christophe Chassol will be at the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi in a concert featuring diverse cultural panoramas, with his unique interactions between video and keyboards. A pianist and composer, Parisian by birth and of Martinique origin, he has affirmed himself as one of the most important novelties of the French and European music panorama, for years the best-kept secret of the Parisian music scene. The concert will be preceded by a free dj set in Campo San Samuele (13 July).
The star of the festival is undoubtedly the Israeli Noa, champion of peace and civil rights, who brings her own songs to the stage, accompanied by one of the best-loved authors of Italian literature today, Erri De Luca, united in the name of Naples and their love towards the Mediterranean. On stage with her band with many pieces from her latest album Love Medicine, she has just celebrated her 25 years of career with Gil Dor (Teatro Goldoni, 14 July).
Another splendid location, the gardens of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, will welcome the notes of French string-bass player Renaud Garcia Fons, a musician of great technique and mastery, whose sound is rich in musicality and expression, evoking images of landscapes from Andalucia to the Middle-eastern shores of the Mediterranean (20 July).
At the Benedetto Marcello Venice Conservatory, contemporary jazz finds its best expressions in an homage to Carla Bley by the Alvise Seggi trio (15 July), in the concert by American pianist Aaron Goldberg and his New York Quartet (18 July) and by the trio of Luca Alemanno, first Italian musician to be part of the “Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance” of Los Angeles, one of the greatest music institutions in America, considered a holy temple of jazz (22 July).
Again at the Conservatory, Heloisa Lourenço recreates with her voice the magical sound of Brazil (20 July), while live music will float on the waters of the Venetian Lagoon with the enchanting Jazz Cruise, including a sumptuous buffet dinner. Chatting with the silouette of Venetian palazzi you gaze at from your vessel will be the voices of Vhelade (7 July) and Silvana Dos Santos (19 July)
Four jazz club evenings at the La Latteria bar near San Polo (starting 7pm, July 7, 8, 12 and 15), featuring emerging Italian groups.
Santa Maria di Sala and Fiesso d’Artico are the two other festival dates in the hinterland, with concerts by the congolese singer Vhelade (6 July, Villa Farsetti) and by the trio of Veneto guitar player Federico Casagrande, now based in Paris: “The Drops – Live in Paris” (15 July, Town Hall Garden).
The teaching activity of Veneto Jazz is based in the city of Chioggia, for this 26th edition of the Summer Jazz Workshop, one of the most acclaimed jazz seminars in Europe, jointly organized with New York’s New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music (16 – 23 July). New additions to the seminar, in which hundreds of students from around the globe participate, include an intensive Big Band course and the collaboration with Italian Conservatories.
Venice Jazz Festival is organized by Veneto Jazz together with the Ministry for Cultural Endowments and Activities, Veneto Region, City of Venice Cultural Committee, Veneto Museum Hub, and the National Museum of Villa Pisani. Partners: Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Splendid Venice Hotel, Venezia News, Trenitalia, Save, Alilaguna, Marco Polo. Technical partners: Azienda Agricola Conte Collalto, Hollywood Service, D-Music, CVL Drums.
Radio Monte Carlo is the official radio of the “Veneto Jazz Stars,” and enthusiastically joins in supporting its entire program. On the radio’s broadcasting frequencies, in Nick the Nightfly’s “Monte Carlo Nights” program, concert tickets will be given away and the “Veneto Jazz Stars” will be actively present on RMC’s website and social network.
Venice Jazz Festival is part of the EFFE - Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (www.effe.eu).
Pre-Sales:
- for concerts at Villa Pisani & Noa Band: Ticketone
- for other concerts: Geticket
