Bologna città della musica
The City of Bologna and Music

• -> bologna and music
• -> laws and public financing for the show business
• -> initiatives of the city.
• -> music museums

The city of Bologna has always played a very active role in preserving and valorising the enormous historic musical heritage within its walls.

One of the most important events, organised in 2002 by the Municipal Department in charge of Culture in the King Enzo Palace was the exhibition “The music rooms – Artists and musicians from the 16th to the 20th century”.

The exhibition paid honour to the musical tradition of Bologna, an essential part of the history of the city, illustrating the most famous musicians who were active in the schools and theatres of Bologna through a series of works of art coming from important museums and private collections (Among which there was a splendid Still life with instruments by Evaristo Baschenis, belonging to a private collection of Bergamo and exhibited for the first time): Mozart, Gioacchino Rossini, Richard Wagner, “Honorary citizen of Bologna”, Johannes Brahms, Giuseppe Martucci and Ferruccio Busoni.

The exhibition gathered a vast number of pictures, books and ancient instruments from the extraordinary collection of the Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale (Musical Bibliographical City Museum) and from the precious collection of music instruments of the Museo Civico Medievale (Medieval City Museum.)

Among the works exhibited there was also the “paper” written in 1770 by the young Mozart for the admission to the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna, the autograph score of The Barber of Seville by Gioacchino Rossini and the Harmonice Musices Odecathon A. (1501), unique example of music printing by Ottaviano Petrucci (Notwithstanding Mozart was already an “enfant prodige”, he was about to fail the admission test to enter the Accademia. Only thanks to Padre Martini’s prompt intervention and corrections he was admitted. Pupi Avati has interpreted this mysterious event in his movie “The three of us” (1984), supposing that Mozart was actually trying to fail the exam on purpose, in order to escape the destiny of a genius).

In 2005 the City Council of Bologna organised various cultural events that, besides re-establishing the role of the square as vital centre of a city through free shows open to everybody, paid special attention to the role of young people, to new technologies and to the forms of communication that characterise the contemporary musical scene.

The various initiatives underline how the city of Bologna is the centre and the driving force of a heterogeneous and lively international network.

In 2005 the city inaugurated Bè, the summer programme of the cultural events promoted by the City Council of Bologna.

The 2005 edition offered the public 66 days of programming that filled 58 different locations of the city, with 34 theatre performances, 21 dance events, 117 music concerts, besides many film projections, reading and meeting evenings, shows for children and guided tours.

The initiatives had an extraordinary success with a total of 318.212 spectators. Nearly 160.000 people were present at the event-concerts of great world-famous musicians, such as Laurie Anderson, Nicola Piovani, Lucio Dalla, Gianni Morandi and at popular and traditional music performances, like those of the orchestra of the Notte della Taranta (Taranta Night).

Music, web and young people
Flashmusica is a website of the City Council of Bologna (www.flashmusica.it) , dedicated to emerging music. It was created in 2002 in the context of a project promoted by the Youth Policies Office of Bologna Municipality, aiming at favouring the transition of young people active in the music field from the amateur activity to the professional one. The portal is part of an educational path for young people, which was started by the City Administration of Bologna in 2000 with the web-magazine “www.flashgiovani.it”, that continued in the following years, specialising itself in various fields: giramondo.org, dedicated to travelling, flashvideo.it, which deals with cinema, and flashfumetto.it, dedicated to comics.

The editorial formula adopted by the network is original and innovative, as it involves various subjects: the Youth Policies Office of the Municipality of Bologna, experts and professionals, who interact on-line on subjects of major interest, and young people, who, thanks to their direct involvement, represent the real driving force of the site project. The websites developed are in fact all designed and managed by a young editorial staff: besides the objective of informing, they also offer the possibility of making the first concrete creative work experiences.

The site is therefore a sort of showcase that aims at spurring the participation of young people and at making visible their contribution to the innovation of the city, valorising new ideas and spurs coming from the world of young people.

Flashmusica presents an articulated database for the documentation of bands in Bologna, clubs that offer live music, rehearsal rooms, recording studios and production and distribution labels, besides a vast sector dedicated to notifications and financing initiatives promoted by the European Union, and to the training courses organised by the City Council for the achievement of professional titles for musical operators and technicians. Moreover, the website offers young musicians the possibility of up-loading their pieces of music on-line, so that they can then be downloaded and listened to through Flashradio, the radio that broadcasts the music of the site.

With the same scope of promoting the musical production of young people, the Young People’s Policies Office of the City Council has been organising for 11 years, together with the San Donato district and a local broadcasting station, the “Trofeo Pilastro City” competition (Pilastro City Trophy), addressed to emerging bands that produce their own original music (covers are therefore excluded) in all languages and of all genres. In the 2006 edition, 48 bands were selected – from a hundred – and they will perform live during 8 evenings in the “Covo”, a historical rock club of Bologna. The pieces of the finalists will be gathered in a celebration compilation, produced and created by the recording label Barrakuda Records. The success in the city of this trophy, but especially the soaring increase of the musical production of young people in Bologna, are testified by the numbers of this competition, which in ten years has seen the number of participating music bands grow tenfold.

Besides, music has accompanied many of the activities of the Municipality of Bologna in the field of intercultural communication, cooperation, solidarity and promotion of peace and safeguarding of human rights.

Music and Human Rights
In 2005 Bologna joined the initiative “Cities for Life – Cities against the death penalty – No Justice without Life” (The initiative is promoted by the Comunità di Sant’Egidio in collaboration with Amnesty International and the Association “Hands off Cain” supported by the main international associations for the respect of human rights): in the whole world, 300 cities lit up a symbol-monument against death penalty to declare their support to the initiative. Among the events planned for the inauguration, which took place on the 30th of November 2005 in the Palazzo Comunale (City Hall), the “Pathetic” Symphony by Peter Tchaikovsky was performed in the Sala Farnese (Farnese Hall).

Music and Peace
On the occasion of the 5th edition of the initiative “Concert for life and peace”, the Mayor of Bologna, Sergio Cofferati, as President of the Teatro Comunale Foundation, accompanied in December 2005 the Teatro Comunale of Bologna on a tour in Israel. The event was promoted by the Permanent Conference of the Historic Cities of the Mediterranean, with the omen that music might contribute to the resumption of a constructive dialogue between the Palestinian and the Israeli people.

Conductor Shlomo Mintz, one of the greatest contemporary violinists, directed the Choir and the Orchestra of the theatre. The Comunale performed in Bethlehem, in the Nativity Church and in the Auditorium, and in the “Benyanei Hauma Hall” of Jerusalem, with a programme dedicated to Mozart and to famous Christmas carols. Two solo singers, an Israeli and a Palestinian one accompanied the Choir, so as to stress the message of peace behind the initiative.

Music and cultural exchanges
In the context of the twinning signed with the city of Portland (Oregon, USA), Laura Marzadori (In 2004 she won the national competition for young violinists "Andrea Amati". After this, the violinist Salvatore Accardo, president of the jury, admitted the young violinist to the W. Stauffer Academy of Cremona.), a very young violinist of Bologna, was able to perform at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, in Portland, on the occasion of the final evening of a competition, at its eleventh edition, that aims at discovering young talents. The city of Bologna is about to return this cultural exchange and to welcome at the Music Conservatory of Bologna a young American musician.

Music and integration
Within the activities promoted by the schools (Such as the middle school “Guinizzelli” and the Social and Pedagogical High School “L. Bassi”) of Bologna in order to favour the integration of foreign students, music and musical education play a very important role. To overcome the difficulties connected to language, some schools organise, besides basic literacy courses, also music workshops: the idea is to gradually introduce the children in the activities of the school, to favour their integration and socialisation, involving them initially in the musical activities, where the Italian language is not the main communication means, and afterwards in the more traditional lessons. Thanks to these workshops, the integration and education of non-Italian students have been made easier and faster. This approach is one of the best practices shared by the City Council of Bologna with the City Council of Craiova (Romania) [ The two City Councils signed, in January 2006, a cooperation protocol. ] in order to favour and streamline the integration of Rumanian children in Italy and of children of the Roma ethnic group in Romania.