On 22 November 1923 Count Guido Chigi Saracini inaugurated the Salone dei Concerti inside his ancient Palazzo in Via di Città with the performance of the Cantata “A Siena” for organ, choir and strings composed by Marco Enrico Bossi. The palace had been renovated by architect Arturo Viligiardi to become a temple for music. One hundred years ago, therefore, by a single act, the Count gave life to his ‘first creature’, the Micat in Vertice concert season, and established an official house for the activities of musical education, production and research that would make the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, his ‘second creature’, one of the world references in the history of Western music of the last century. In the rooms of Palazzo Chigi Saracini, which are filled with artistic masterpieces, the lives and music of the greatest artists of the 20th century have intertwined: some of them already arrived at the peak of their fame, others came to Siena as pupils and then became extraordinary masters, capable of nourishing a tradition that in the new century continues to attract young talents, who are the masters of tomorrow.

Higher musical education is the core activity of the Chigiana cultural enterprise. Nevertheless, from the very beginning, the Academy united education to musical production, often keeping a close relationship between the private moment of the classroom lesson and the public moment of the performance on stage. Still today, the Accademia Chigiana guides the most talented students towards the first steps of their professional careers. At the same time, Chigiana keeps on influencing the tastes of the audience through the themes of its initiatives and artistic programmes.
But such an undertaking, that was built upon the patron’s desire for the preservation of Western musical civilisation and its complex identity, would not have survived without the research activity. “Research” is to be understood both in artistic terms – supporting the creativity of composers – and through historical and philological investigations of musical sources. This latter, for instance, took important and significant steps in the field of rediscovering the sound of the past.

Therefore, a conference organised on the 100th anniversary of the Chigiana’s activities cannot simply celebrate the progress made so far, but must seize the opportunity to relaunch the institution’s original project and the experience it has acquired over a century, comparing itself with other similar realities of international standing in order to open up visions on the future of musical education, production and research.

“Chigiana 100” international conference will run over three days and will be divided into three sections.
The first one will be devoted to Chigiana’s role in the framework of 20th century musical culture, probing the value of its institutional project and analysing the effects of its thrust, both towards the thought on the future of musical expression and the investigation of the sound of the past: these two directions are none other than the two inseparable sides of contemporary artistic production.
The next two sections will each be devoted to the other main thrusts of the Chigi project, comparing it with other ways of tackling the current challenges of the musical world: education –  from the increasingly complex relationship between music, the public and the media, to the fostering of teaching experiences which take into account the changing professional expectations of students; musical research, from the innovation of sound languages to the valorisation of musical heritage through conservation and collective enjoyment.

Preview
On 22 November at 11 a.m. in the Salone dei Concerti of Palazzo Chigi Saracini, a preview of the documentary “MICAT IN VERTICE L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana” by Marta Teodoro and Elisabetta Foti, produced by Rai Cultura, will be presented. The authors will be present.