“City in Notes” sixth edition
Six days of popular music, young talents, and major international figures: Città in note returns to Cuneo. The music of places, the festival that transforms the city into an open stage, combining tradition and modernity, research and entertainment, education and outreach.
From May 20 to 25, 2026, theaters, churches, squares, monumental spaces, and natural settings will host a rich program of concerts, meetings, and performances featuring established artists, ensembles, orchestras, and young musicians, in an ongoing dialogue between genres, eras, and languages.
The festival is conceived and promoted by the Artea Foundation with the Municipality of Cuneo, and under the artistic direction of Claudio Carboni, assisted by Carlo Maver. Now in its sixth edition, Città in note is increasingly consolidating its position as a widespread musical ecosystem, engaging diverse audiences and enhancing historic, natural, and cultural spaces through a program that combines artistic quality and accessibility.
For information, reservations, and tickets, visit www.fondazioneartea.org.
MAJOR CONCERTS AT THE TOSELLI THEATRE
As in past editions, the Toselli Theatre, a cultural symbol of the city, will be the stage on which the festival's most anticipated guests will perform.
On Wednesday, May 20th, at 9:00 PM, Città in Note will open with the ensemble I Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala, consisting of ten instrumentalists in an original combination of five strings and five wind instruments. The musicians will perform a program that combines virtuosic brilliance, melodic elegance, and refined timbre. From the theatrical brio of Gioachino Rossini, with his sparkling works brimming with musical humor, to the unmistakable contemporary lyricism of Nino Rota, renowned for his film scores and chamber music, the concert will chronicle the evolution of Italian musical style.
On Thursday, May 21st at 9:00 PM, internationally acclaimed musician Raphael Gualazzi take to the stage at the Toselli Theatre. Accompanied by Anders Ulrich on double bass and Gianluca Nanni on drums, the artist from the Marche region will offer a refined tribute to acoustic music, ranging from inspirations from the African-American repertoire to divertissements on famous themes from Italian song and opera, as well as a selection of his own compositions. Reinterpretations of themes written by great Italian composers for film will also be included.
On Saturday, May 23, at 9 pm, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Carmen Consoli, one of the most influential and award-winning artists in Italian music, will bring “Territori d'arte” to the Toselli stage. This concert effortlessly explores acoustic and electronic sounds, from popular music to 1970s rock and 1990s indie, all the way to singer-songwriter music and blues, experimenting while maintaining a constant connection with her homeland, Sicily, its culture and traditions.
For concert tickets at the Toselli Theater: https://www.ticket.it/festival/citta-in-note-la-musica-dei-luoghi.aspx
EXPERIMENTATION AND CONTAMINATION
One of the festival's distinctive elements is its openness to hybrid languages and contemporary musical practices. Some of the selected projects explore the boundaries between genres, cultures, and technologies, giving space to new forms of expression and unconventional listening modes. Music thus becomes a terrain of research and innovation.
Perfectly blending the spirit of jazz with the compositional prowess of classical music is the hallmark of the event on Thursday, May 21st, at 10:30 PM, at the Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco. Norwegian jazz musician Daniel Herskedal will perform "Call for Winter."
He performs on the tuba and bass trumpet, creating music of absolute grace and composure, with a dazzling virtuosity that pushes the boundaries of his instrument to the limit.
On Friday, May 22nd, at 9:00 PM, the Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco will again host "Flashback," a powerful and poetic encounter between Mexican performer and singer Jennifer Cabrera Fernandez and Italian vibraphonist and percussionist Pasquale Mirra. This musical project blends electronics, ritual percussion, dance, and song in a sonic tapestry spanning eras, cultures, and geographies.
On Saturday, May 23rd, at 11:00 AM, the Gesso and Stura River Park, a splendid green space within the city limits, will host the group Afrodream with "A Journey between Senegal and the Mediterranean," a concert that blends African rhythms, jazz, and contemporary sounds in an engaging and vibrant musical experience. Also on Saturday, at 11:00 PM, at the Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco, Piero Perelli, drummer, percussionist, and sound explorer, will present his project "Notte," a sound exploration inspired by the environment around us. Manipulating drones and drums with effects, he will explore the contrast between "dark and light, yin and yang, night and day," centered on a dialogue with the venue and the audience, in resonance and harmony with the present. A shamanic, energetic, engaging, and reflective performance, featuring a wild, tribal rhythm of raw drums.
The festival's more experimental program will conclude on Sunday, May 24, at 9:30 PM, again at the Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco, with the world premiere of ProjE#ctions – ELLIOTT SHARP & METS, a live set exploring the sonic and visual geometries of Cuneo and New York City. Active since the 1970s, Elliott Sharp explores the boundaries between experimental jazz, innovative rock, contemporary music, and electronic music, integrating algorithms, radical improvisation, and homemade instruments. He has released over one hundred albums, and his ever-evolving sonic exploration makes him one of the most original voices in contemporary music. Together with two improvisational musicians, Vanja Contu and Agnese Garufi, Gianluca Verlingieri, and METS students, he will create an evening, conceived by Verlingieri himself, where homemade or modified instruments, electronics, electroacoustic harps, and saxophones will improvise and perform graphic scores inspired by the geometries and images of the cities of Cuneo and New York.
CLASSICAL MUSIC, CHORAL MUSIC, AND CULTURAL REPERTOIRES IN COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL SCHOOLS AND MUSIC INSTITUTES.
This year, the festival celebrates European musical tradition, offering audiences journeys across eras and styles. The program combines quality performance and accessibility, with programs that appeal to both enthusiasts and new listeners. Local educational institutions will be active participants in the performances and interpretations, establishing an ongoing dialogue between teaching and artistic production. Indeed, in its sixth edition, the festival confirms its position as a platform for growth and development for new generations of musicians.
On Wednesday, May 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., in the Hall of Honor of the Municipality of Cuneo, as part of the PRIN research project promoted by the "GF Ghedini" Conservatory of Cuneo, a musical marathon of performances by young musicians will be held. The performances will consist of short solo performances divided by theme and genre. The initiative intertwines artistic dimensions and scientific research, transforming the concert into an opportunity to explore the relationship between performer, emotion, and performance.
On Thursday, May 21st, at 7:30 PM, the Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco will host a concert by the Children's Choir and Youth Choir of the Academia Montis Regalis. This musical journey is dedicated to the figure of the Virgin and the Marian tradition, exploring choral works from the 19th and 20th centuries, with music by Benjamin Britten, Camille Saint-Saëns, Zoltán Kodály, John Rutter, and Giovanni Donati.
The choirs will once again take center stage in the concert, which will also be held on Thursday, May 21st, but at 8:45 PM, in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Bosco (Duomo – entrance via Roma). This evening brings together three ensembles in a musical journey that spans European choral repertoire and contemporary productions. The performers will be the "Il Castello" Choir of Rivoli, the Student Choir of the "GF Ghedini" Conservatory of Cuneo, and the Roberto Goitre Choir, accompanied by the Orchestra of the Cuneo Conservatory.
On Friday, May 22nd, at 4:30 pm in the restored Sala San Giovanni, the String Orchestra of the "Ego Bianchi" Music High School of Cuneo will perform, along with the music-focused middle schools of Boves, Busca, Cuneo, and Mondovì, in the concert "Convergenze," a musical journey through eras and styles, from Baroque and operatic repertoire to contemporary compositions and traditional folk songs.
On Saturday, May 23rd, at 11:00 am, the magnificent Baroque church of Santa Croce will host "Between Classicism and Romanticism," a concert by the Bartolomeo Bruni Orchestra of the City of Cuneo. The program will range from Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581, to Beethoven's String Quartet in C Minor No. 4, Op. 18, offering a musical journey elegantly balanced between lyricism, expressive depth, and instrumental dialogue.
Also on Saturday, May 23, at 6:00 PM, the Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco will host Universal Songs, a concert by the Choir and Orchestra of the Società Corale Città di Cuneo. The program is a journey through contemporary music through some of the world's most acclaimed living composers, including young talents and established masters.
Sunday, May 24, is dedicated to local music schools: starting at 2:30 PM, in the San Giovanni Hall, Voice Art Academy will perform "Musical Portraits. The Voice in Musical Theatre," a diverse repertoire spanning some of the most significant and recognizable pieces from Italian and international musicals, reinterpreted and performed as soloists; Har Project with "Musical Passport. The History of Music in 45'," a journey spanning at least five centuries and seven different countries, combining the richness of ancient repertoire with the rhythmic influences of jazz and tango performed by the Flute Orchestra, along with students from the Crescendo music school; Palcoscenico Performing Arts Center with "Music from the World," a concert dedicated to popular and folk repertoire from various cultural traditions, celebrating the variety and richness of global musical heritage, offering audiences a colorful and engaging sonic journey. At 7:30 pm, the concert continues in the Sala San Giovanni with "The Rhythm of Time: The Magic of Schubert and Haydn" by the Fondazione Scuola APM of Saluzzo, a concert inspired by the great classical and romantic repertoire. The program, featuring Schubert's Symphony No. 3 and Symphony No. 1, features the following: Haydn's Symphony No. 101, highlights the precision, balance, and expressiveness of young musicians, offering audiences an orchestral experience rich in elegance and brilliance.
Also on Sunday, May 24th, at 5:30 pm in Piazza Virginio, to mark its thirtieth anniversary, Insieme Musica will present a concert that tells the story of the musical project, combining educational experience with creative performance. The large orchestra and choir, made up of approximately 200 children, teens, and adults, will blend classical and modern instruments in a repertoire ranging from children's songs to pop-rock hits, showcasing ensemble playing as a tool for educational, social, and cultural growth.
On Monday, May 25th, at 8:45 pm, the Città in note festival will conclude at the Teatro Toselli with a concert by the Orchestra of the "GF Ghedini" Conservatory of Cuneo, performing Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique" by P.I. Tchaikovsky, one of the most intense masterpieces of symphonic literature and the Russian composer's final work. The Ghedini Orchestra will perform this great orchestral work in a musical journey that alternates lyrical impulses, dramatic tension, and moments of intense expressiveness.
IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES AND NEW AUDIENCES:
The festival expands the boundaries of the traditional concert, offering participatory and accessible formats. The goal is to engage diverse audiences, including families and new listeners, through direct and inclusive experiences.
These include the f'Orma trail, a sensory barefoot experience to be enjoyed before or after the Afrodream concert at the Parco Fluviale, and the urban soundwalk starting from the Auditorium Foro Boario, titled Di-stanze sonore. Cuneo – New York City, a walking trail through the streets of Cuneo where the city's soundscapes dialogue and intertwine with those of the Big Apple, in a continuous play of contrasts, transformations, and mimesis. Finally, a concert entirely dedicated to families on Sunday, May 24th at 4:45 pm at the Toselli Theater with the Children's Choir and the Orchestra of the "GF Ghedini" Conservatory, a journey in which music, storytelling, and images meet in an accessible and engaging experience, from Wolfgang Amadeus's The Magic Flute to the screening of some famous sequences from the film Fantasia.
MEETINGS AND OUTREACH.
Alongside the performances, the festival offers opportunities for reflection and exploration. Meetings, debates, and listening guides offer tools for better understanding music and its evolution, engaging the audience as an active participant in the cultural experience. The first of these will be the Talks About Music by The Youth Factor, an audience engagement and development project aimed at high schools in Cuneo. On Saturday, May 23, at 4:00 PM in the Sala San Giovanni, singer-songwriter and playwright Gian Piero Alloisio, music publisher Claudio Buja, and record producer Stefano Senardi will discuss the present of Italian songwriting, from the glorious past of legendary singer-songwriters to a future dominated by new technologies. This will be followed by the talk "Territori d'arte" featuring Carmen Consoli and Stefano Senardi, an open dialogue on the profound and ever-evolving relationship between creativity and the places that host it, reflecting on how territories are not simply passive settings, but truly living spaces that influence art, nourish it, and are in turn transformed and enhanced by it. Led by Margherita Devalle, the "singer" and the record producer will explore how artistic expression can interact with landscape and historical heritage. On Sunday, May 24, at 10:30 a.m., at the Auditorium Foro Boario – Spazio Varco, Elliott Sharp, a key figure in the New York avant-garde, composer, multi-instrumentalist, improviser, and instrument hacker, will share his story in the talk "IrRational Music," in conversation with his friend and colleague Gianluca Verlingieri.
Finally, on Monday, May 25, at 8:45 pm, at the Teatro Toselli, musician, musicologist, and music communicator Valentina Lo Surdo will guide the audience through the "Pathétique," one of the Russian composer's most significant compositions for its pathos and compositional maturity, before the performance of Tchaikovsky's celebrated Symphony No. 6 in B minor by the "GF Ghedini" Conservatory Orchestra.
With a program spanning genres, generations, and locations, Città in Note confirms its position as a cultural event capable of presenting music as a collective, widespread, and contemporary experience.
For reservations for all free events (tickets available from April 30): https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/citta-in-note-4829473?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=creatorshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=odclsxcollection&utm-source=cp&aff=escb
CITY IN NOTES. THE MUSIC OF PLACES | Cuneo, May 20-25, 2026
A project by: Artea Foundation | With: Municipality of Cuneo | In collaboration with: “GF Ghedini” Conservatory of Cuneo, METS | With the contribution of: Piedmont Region, CRC Foundation, CRT Foundation | Under the patronage of: Province of Cuneo | With the support of: Confindustria Cuneo, ATL – Azienda Turistica del Cuneese/Cuneo Music and Art Festival | Special project “The Youth Factor” in collaboration with: The Goodness Factory, Genova per Voi | With the participation of: Academia Montis Regalis, Mondovì; APM School Foundation, Saluzzo; Bartolomeo Bruni Orchestra of the City of Cuneo; Bianchi-Virginio Institute, Cuneo; Choral Society of the City of Cuneo; Voice Art Academy; Har Project; Palcoscenico Performing Arts Center; Insieme Musica; Confraternity of Santa Croce, Cuneo.
