Greeting of the founder and Artistic Director of Piano Summer
“Don’t stop the music!” – this is our motto and also our deepest wish in these times, times in which we need culture more than ever. Our need and desire to come together, to build bridges and to jointly experience culture will hopefully be fulfilled again in the years to come.
We bring together artists and audience from around the world and enable a vivid cultural exchange through our concert series, artist-in-residence program, and various offers for the formation and promotion of young talent.
Piano Summer is the cultural festival par excellence in southern Europe – a project, that since its inception in 2014, has attracted more than 18,000 visitors. What was once a local festival in Serbia, is now successively becoming a mainly European cultural network, which so far has won over countries like Germany, Serbia, Italy and South Africa as hosts.
The German festival edition will offer a series of concerts in various locations across Bavaria. The Italian edition will take place in the beautiful Salento region while the Serbian edition will be hosted in Belgrade. In addition to performances in established concert halls, some of our events will take place in unusual, urban venues. In this way, visitors will not only experience concerts of the highest caliber and with numerous highlights, but they will also get to know the urban character of the host cities and their most beautiful surroundings. Besides concerts with nationally and internationally renowned artists, the program will again encompass a piano competition and an academy.
It is our desire to bring a fresh wind into the cultural landscape. We want our festival to be one that opens its doors to established and young artists alike, daring to incorporate new ideas, away from the cultural industry’s well-traveled roads, a project that welcomes all those, who are united by their shared love for music.
Now more than ever, Europe must be more than just lip service – it must be lived! As a European cultural platform, it is important for us to open a window to the world. The times we are living in require solutions to what the challenges of the future will be. We can only find these through a process of political and cultural exchange, by getting to know each other, and learning from each other.
And not least, we are happy to bring people together again after a long period of isolation!
In this sense – Don’t stop the music!
Founder & Artistic Director
Greeting of the Festival Director of Piano Summer Salento
After having realized our first, albeit reduced, Italian edition of Piano Summer last year, in spite of Covid, we are extremely happy to be returning to the Salento in 2022 with a much broader program.
This time, in addition to a varied classical repertoire, we will also bring with us a selection of jazz and a glimpse into contemporary modern music – in the tradition of Piano Summer, performed by established artists and emerging young talents.
Our core program, which will again take place in the “Chiostro dei Carmelitani” in Nardò, will be supplemented with additional concerts in extraordinary locations in the region. With our free open-air concerts, we want to offer the possibility of enjoying our music to a wide audience, and we see this, as well, as a thank you to the town of Nardò and its population.
Our gratitude furthermore goes to the many local supporters without whom this festival would not be possible.
It is our declared aim, to make a positive contribution to the attractiveness of the region. The Salento, with its architectonical treasures and its natural beauty, not only provides wonderful scenery for the music, but it is also a captivating holiday destination. We hope that many music lovers will take our festival as an occasion to discover this region and therefore we say “Benvenuti in questa terra magica!” – “Welcome in this magical spot of Earth”.
Head of Italian edition