Turning medieval music into “pop” music, and making it known to all.
Assisi will host 20 different medieval musical events
Using a place where the Middle Ages is still alive in alleyways and squares, vibrating like the strings of a harp played by passionate and expert hands. This is the aim of DeMusicAssisi, the first medieval music festival scheduled for Umbria, and one of the few in Italy, which will be held in Assisi from 15 to 20 August.
Admission is free to all the concerts and events
The Festival - promoted by the Municipality of Assisi, with the artistic direction of the Accademia d'Arti Antiche Resonars – was launched last year, attracting a vast and transversal audience. Not only enthusiasts of medieval music, but also many who were not so familiar with it, as well as tourists who discovered how “pop” and fascinating ancient music can be. It was a success well beyond expectations, and it led to this second edition which has even more events and concerts than the first time - all with free admission.
Assisi
Flash mobs and medieval music DJ sets
DeMusicAssisi 2024 takes place entirely in the historic centre of Assisi, with over 20 different events in evocative locations. A temporal journey through musical repertoires composed between the 13th and 15th centuries, it will feature musicological conferences, meetings with historians, didactics, workshops, touring shows and even flash mobs and medieval music DJ sets. The happening also includes an exhibition dedicated to antique instruments and the art of the lute-makers who, in attendance, will answer questions from the public.
Devotional music features in this 2nd edition
The theme of this second edition is the "Laud", or devotional music which is linked to the medieval movement of the Confraternities, and to the celebrations for the Franciscan centenaries 2023-2026. The Festival will feature educational activities aimed at the historical-musical reconstruction of the performance of the Lauds, recounting the liturgical, "popular," and transversal aspects of medieval devotion, through the cultured compositions of religious origin.
Assisi will become a world capital of medieval music
From Gregorian chant to the performance of the Lauds in Latin and the vernacular, from monody to Italian and English polyphony, the journey will conclude with a trip to the Middle Eastern philosophy of the time of St Francis and St Clare. Artists from all over the world will participate in this exciting second edition of the Festival which is becoming increasingly international, with musicians and researchers from England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Syria, Austria, the United States and Belgium. Turning Assisi into a sort of world capital of medieval music.
