DOLOMITES-UNESCO: 15 YEARS OF MAGICAL MOUNTAIN CONCERTS
TRENTO - The Sounds of the Dolomites is a unique summer festival which offers music lovers and mountain enthusiasts a variety of outdoor concerts in stunning settings. Celebrating its 15th season this year, the Trentino initiative has planned a series of performances by prominent musicians in magnificent natural theatres. Musicians and spectators alike set off from valley floors and walk, sometimes for hours, to venues in clearings and hollows for these singular concerts.
Dawn concerts have been added to the original schedule of afternoon concerts, creating extraordinary musical events accompanied by the thrill of a high altitude sunrise. Organised to showcase the beauty of the Dolomite mountains and offer visitors unforgettable musical experiences, sponsors also highlight the importance of respecting natural areas and the possibility of discovering and learning about the mountains' geology and ecology.
The Province of Trento and Trentino, a private company promoting tourism in the area, as well as other public and private sponsors, back the festival. Since 1995 the Trento mountains - called the ''the most beautiful natural architecture in the world'' by 20th century French architect Le Corbusier - have provided extraordinary natural stages for this 'music in the mountains' festival. The Sounds of the Dolomites programmes include classical music, jazz and world music. Under the artistic direction of Chiara Bassetti and Paolo Manfrini, over the last fourteen years many internationally famous musicians and composers have performed in high spirits at high altitudes.
Classical music concerts have included stars like Uto Ughi, Salvatore Accardo, Arvo Paert, Gidon Kremer, Cecilia Gasdia, I Solisti Veneti and Mario Brunello. Uri Caine, Lee Konitz, Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani, Dave Douglas, John Zorn, Richard Galliano, Michel Portal, and Michael Brecker have played jazz. World music has been represented by the likes of Indian maestros Hariprasad Chaurasia and Trilok Gurtu, the Tibetan musician Yungchen Lhamo, the Balkan musician Kocani Orkestra, the Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares chorus, the African musician Rokia Traore', the Irish group The Chieftains, Tunisian Anouar Brahem, Argentinean Dino Saluzzi, and the Tenores di Bitti from Sardinia. Singer-songwriters that have taken part include Vinicio Capossela, Ivano Fossati, Morgan, Peter Hammill, Roberto Vecchioni, John Trudell, and Antonella Ruggiero - appearing with coral groups singing traditional Alpine songs. Ludovico Einaudi, Giovanni Collima and Giovanni Allevi all performed pieces written especially for the festival. The Dawn in the Dolomites events have included performances by Alessandro Baricco, Erri De Luca, Marco Paolini, David Riondino, Neri Marcore', Margherita Hack and Umberto Galimberti.
The Dolomites of Peace concerts on world war one battlegrounds have featured Sinphiwe Dana, Radiodervish, and Nicola Piovani. Italy has applied to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for the Dolomites to be added to its World Heritage List. The 2008 bid was endorsed in May by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the World Heritage Committee's advisory body on natural sites, and the final verdict is expected by the end of June. Nine mountain groups, including the Pale di San Martino, have been selected as representative of two UNESCO criteria: superlative natural phenomena and outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history.
