Classical Music Festival

Twenty-first edition of the Classical Music Festival – City of San Giovanni Valdarno, with international performers, young talents and a programme dedicated to Beethoven, Mozart and contemporary music

The Classical Music Festival – City of San Giovanni Valdarno returns, organised by Accademia Musicale Valdarnese in collaboration with the Municipality of San Giovanni Valdarno, under the artistic direction of Maestro Andrea Turini and the junior direction of Maestro Gabriele Cerofolini.

The programme of the 21st edition features concerts, piano recitals, chamber music and in-depth meetings, bringing together internationally renowned performers and young musicians.

Opening the Festival on Sunday 18 October at the Pieve di San Giovanni Battista will be pianist Simone Pedroni and cellist Christiana Coppola, with a programme dedicated to Prokofiev, Williams and Rachmaninov.

One of the main projects of the 2026 edition is “Beeing#Beethoven2027”, the multi-year project accompanying audiences towards the bicentenary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s death. The series continues the complete performance of the sonatas for violin and piano and the trios for piano, violin and cello, involving artists and ensembles such as Aiman Mussakhajayeva and Giuseppe Gullotta, Trio Dmitrij, Trio Visconti, Bertrand Giraud and Vadim Tchijik, Hopper Piano Trio, Luca Rasca and Roberto Noferini.

“ἁρμονικός – New Voices of Classical Music” also continues, the project dedicated to the complete performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s concertos for piano and orchestra. During the three events on 1 November, 22 November and 6 December, the Oida Orchestra will accompany nine young pianists, with three conductors and three composers under 35 invited to write new cadenzas for Mozart’s concertos.

There will also be space for contemporary music. On 31 October, Sala La Nunziata will host a meeting with composer Mario Totaro and scholar Linda Torrini dedicated to the relationship between the work of Edgar Allan Poe and contemporary music; on the same day, pianist Nicola Pantani will perform a recital at the Pieve di San Giovanni Battista.

Other events include piano recitals by Danylo Saienko, Emil Ribarsky and the duo formed by Xin Wang and Florian Koltun.

The 21st edition will conclude on Sunday 13 December at the Pieve di San Giovanni Battista with the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina conducted by Giuseppe Lanzetta and Andrea Turini at the piano. The final concert will be entirely dedicated to Beethoven, with Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 7.