Festival Respighi Bologna

08 June 2025 - 25 October 2025

Music and dance

Now in its fourth edition, the Respighi Festival Bologna is the first resident festival dedicated to Ottorino Respighi, one of the greatest Italian composers of the 20th century, in the city where he was born.

Conceived by Maurizio Scardovi, a Bologna-based performing arts manager and the festival’s Artistic Director, the event has, since 2022, turned the city each autumn into a widespread stage for concerts, conferences, film screenings, talks, and special events.

Its aim is to rediscover the work of Respighi and his contemporaries, promoting the immense musical heritage and the cultural and social vitality of early 20th-century Italy. The project also seeks to enhance the role of Bologna as a UNESCO Creative City of Music, the only one in Italy, and a leader in the international cultural scene.

Complete Program

SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2025 – 9:30 PM
PIAZZA MAGGIORE – BOLOGNA
Opening Concert
Final event of the Bologna Portici Festival 2025

Luciano Pavarotti Foundation Orchestra
Matteo Parmeggiani, conductor
Special guest: Gianluca Terranova

Program
Ottorino Respighi – Carnival Overture P 99
Maurice Ravel – Boléro
Manuel de Falla – Ritual Fire Dance from El amor brujo
Aram Khachaturian – Adagio from Spartacus
Arturo Márquez – Danzón No. 2

In collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna and the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation Orchestra
Supported by Banca Passadore

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2025 – 8:30 PM
TEATRO AUDITORIUM MANZONI
Opening Concert

Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Zubin Mehta, conductor

Program
Beethoven – Egmont Overture, Op. 84
Respighi – Pines of Rome, symphonic poem P 141
Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring
Scenes of Pagan Russia in two parts

In collaboration with Teatro Comunale di Bologna

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025 – 8:30 PM
TEATRO DUSE
Opening concert of Musica Insieme season “I Concerti 2025/26”

Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini
Mihaela Costea, violin
Sarah Hakobyan, mezzo-soprano
Alexander Sprague, tenor
Marcell Bakonyi, bass
Sasha Yankevych, conductor

Program
Respighi – Berceuse P 38 (orchestral transcription by Salvatore Di Vittorio)
Respighi – Autumn Poem P 146 for violin and orchestra
Stravinsky – Pulcinella, ballet with vocals in one act

In collaboration with Teatro Duse and Fondazione Arturo Toscanini

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2025 – 9:00 PM
TEATRO MAZZACORATI 1763
CD Presentation Concert – Respighi: Piano Works (Da Vinci 2025)

Maurizio Scardovi, speaker
Pietro Beltrani, piano

Program
Respighi – Six Pieces P 44
Respighi – Three Preludes on Gregorian Melodies P 135
Respighi – Sonata in F minor P 16

In collaboration with Succede solo a Bologna

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2025 – 3:00–6:00 PM
ACCADEMIA FILARMONICA DI BOLOGNA – SALA MOZART
Scholarly Conference
The Piano in 20th Century Italian Music: From Respighi to Casella
Curated by Piero Mioli

Speakers:
Giovanni Cultrera, Vitale Fano, Lorenzo Fico, Aldo Orvieto
Special guest: Gloria Campaner

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2025 – 7:00 PM
ACCADEMIA FILARMONICA DI BOLOGNA – SALA MOZART
Piano Recital

Anastasia Fioravanti, piano
Pizzetti – Songs of Remembrance Op. 121
Wolf-Ferrari – Three Impromptus Op. 13

Domenico Bevilacqua, piano
Casella – from Nine Pieces Op. 24
Malipiero – Passing Masks Op. 40
Cristina Cutuli – World premiere for piano four-hands
Commissioned by Musica Insieme

In collaboration with Accademia Filarmonica and Accademia Pianistica di Imola

SEPTEMBER 29 – OCTOBER 3, 2025
TEATRO DEL BARACCANO
Pulcinella, All’improvviso!
A co-production of the Orchestra and Teatro del Baraccano and Festival Respighi Bologna

Orchestra del Baraccano
Giambattista Giocoli, director and creator
Marco Sgrosso, dramaturgy and stage direction

Two evening performances and two morning shows for schools
In collaboration with Teatro del Baraccano

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2025 – 8:00 PM
PALAZZO BONCOMPAGNI
Dinner at Casa Respighi
Dinner-show featuring:
Beatrice Lomurno, violin
Alessandro Artese, piano
Gabriele Duma, direction and script

A musical-theatrical experience telling the story of young Respighi’s studies, family, and early artistic life
In collaboration with Palazzo Boncompagni

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2025 – 8:30 PM
TEATRO AUDITORIUM MANZONI
Part of Musica Insieme Season “I Concerti 2025/26”

Beijing Symphony Orchestra
Giuseppe Gibboni, violin
Muhai Tang, conductor

Program
Jiping Zhao – Spring Overture
Paganini – Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 7
Zhou Long – Wind of Bell and Drum (from Beijing Rhyme)
Respighi – Metamorphoseon XII Modi P 169

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025 – 8:30 PM
SALA BOSSI – CONSERVATORIO G.B. MARTINI
A Duo’s Story: Seventy Years of Success

Bruno Canino – Antonio Ballista, piano duo

Program
Casella – Pupazzetti, Op. 27
Malipiero – Dialogues
Casella – Pages of War, Op. 25
Debussy – En Blanc et Noir
Fauré – Dolly Suite, Op. 56
Ravel – Rhapsodie Espagnole

In collaboration with Conservatorio “G.B. Martini” of Bologna

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2025 – 6:00 PM
CINEMA MODERNISSIMO
Respighi at the Movies

Young People’s Concert – The Anatomy of a Symphony Orchestra
(1970, 51’, CBS Television)

Original English version with Italian subtitles
Leonard Bernstein conducts Pines of Rome by Respighi with the New York Philharmonic
In collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2025 – 8:30 PM
ORATORIO DI SAN FILIPPO NERI
Tribute to Guido Alberto Fano on the 150th Anniversary of His Birth

Ensemble Mark Rothko
Massimiliano Ferrati, piano

Program
Castelnuovo-Tedesco – String Quartet No. 3
Fano – Piano Quintet in C Major

In collaboration with Archivio Musicale Guido Alberto Fano Onlus

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2025 – 8:30 PM
COMUNALE NOUVEAU
Sleeping Beauty in the Woods
Opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi
New staging – World Premiere

Soloists, Choir and Orchestra of the Conservatorio “G.B. Martini”
Matteo Parmeggiani, conductor
Giovanni Dispenza, stage director
Costumes and scenery by Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna

Morning performance for schools at 11:00 AM
In collaboration with Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Accademia di Belle Arti, and Conservatorio “G.B. Martini”