The 2026 concert season promoted by the Associazione Musicale Lucchese once again offers a wealth of variety and, as always, promises some pleasant surprises, with unusual programs, young talents, and welcome returns.
There are ten concerts, which will be held at 5:30 pm on Saturdays at the Suffragio Auditorium, from January to March and then again in October and November.
All events are linked to the "Musica ragazzi" season, involving students from local schools who are given the opportunity to meet the protagonists in moments specifically designed to introduce younger audiences to great music.
Saturday 31 January Gorini again with the very young violinist Andrea Cicalese , already a guest in halls such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Herkulessaal, Prinzregententheater in Munich and Tonhalle Zurich.
Andrea Cicalese, born in Naples in 2005, is one of the most extraordinary violinists of his generation and has already performed in the most prestigious international concert halls, from the Philharmonie in Berlin to the Tonhalle in Zurich, collaborating as a soloist with leading conductors and orchestras in Europe and the United States.
Born in 1995, Filippo Gorini is one of the most magnetic talents on the international piano scene. His career took off in 2015 with his victory at the Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn. Far from the clichés of the traditional soloist, Gorini is involved in wide-ranging multimedia and social projects such as L'Arte della Fuga and Sonata for 7 Cities, a revolutionary format of monthly artistic residencies in major cities around the world.
Saturday's concert marks the end of Gorini's week-long artistic residency in Lucca, during which he will give masterclasses at the Conservatory, meet with students from two schools and perform two “small” concerts at Casa Mandorla and the Mental Health Centre.
Saturday, February 21st marks the anniversary of Luigi Boccherini's birth (born in Lucca in February 1743) with a concert that every year brings together internationally renowned cellists and the orchestra of the city's Conservatory . Miriam Prandi and Alexey Zhilin will take the stage. The program includes Boccherini, Haydn, and Sollima.
The Lucchese Musical Association has always paid attention to talented young musicians and on
Saturday 7 March it will host the Trio Concept , with works by Casella, Ravel and Mendelssohn.
Saturday 21 March , recorder virtuoso Lucie Horsch will perform with French lutenist Thomas Dunford : a duo acclaimed in European halls such as the Philharmonie Essen, Brucknerhaus Linz, Auditori Girona, with upcoming performances at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Wigmore Hall.
Saturday 10 October , the Italian Saxophone Quartet makes its debut for the Associazione Musicale Lucchese with an itinerary that spans over a century: from Singelée and Bozza to Françaix, Galliano, Piovani and Morricone.
Pianist Roberto Cominati returns
Saturday, October 24 , winning first prize at the Busoni Competition. The program features Debussy, De Falla, Turina, Albéniz, and Granados.
Saturday, November 7th , the Guadagnini Quartet will perform the complete Shostakovich quartets. Thanks to the collaboration with the Gaetano Giani-Luporini Study Center, they will also perform the modern premiere of Gaetano Luporini's Quartet in G minor .
-- The season closes on Saturday 21 November with violinist Marco Rizzi and pianist Simone Soldati , protagonists of the project “Elective Affinities” which combines Mozart’s Sonatas for violin and piano with György Kurtág’s “aphorisms” for solo violin, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth.