A MAY PREVIEW OF MAGGIO FESTIVAL
The Festival will be inaugurated on May 2 and the day is rich with offerings, free of charge, beginning with a concert by the Maggio Musicale Brass Ensemble at Piazza Signoria’s Loggia dei Lanzi at 12 noon. Later, to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (d. May 2, 1519) a new commission by Luca Logi titled Aphorisms for Children’s Voices and Piano on Texts by Leonardo da Vinci, in addition to works by Verdi, Puccini and Mozart, will be sung at the Zeffirelli Foundation in Piazza San Firenze. The headliners will be the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (MMF) Children’s Choir conducted by Lorenzo Fratini (recitals at 3 pm and 4:30 pm). Two performances of a new work composed by Giorgio Battistelli again in tribute to Da Vinci, this time for 500 brass and percussion instruments, will be held in Piazzale Vittoria Gui, in front of the Teatro del Maggio, at 5 and 6 pm.