Ceresio Estate, concerts and tourism

Water mirrors

The 14 concerts of Ceresio Estate offer enchanting views over the waters of Ceresio, Lake Lugano. The name might derive from Latin “Ceresium”, meaning bluer than the sky, or from Celtic “Keresius”, meaning branched due to its peculiar shape.

This year's novelty is pairing each concert with a touristic proposal that, in most cases, can be taken on the same day.

Space is also given this year to students and recent graduates of the University School of Music (SUM) of the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland (Csi) like oboists Alessia Vermi and Tommaso Duca, harpist Jasmine Gitti, sopranos Alice Rossi, pianists Marco Borghetto and Federico Battista Melis.

Equal attention is given to those active on the Lugano music scene like Ticino cellist Milo Ferrazzini; Admir Doci, guitar teacher at our Conservatory; cellist Marco Testori and lutenist Giangiacomo Pinardi, both active at the Barocchisti; vocal group LaReverdie, regular guests at Cantar di Pietre, soprano Barbara Zanichelli, lutenist Luca Pianca and last but not least, Giovanni Conti, a "home-grown" internationally esteemed musicologist among the foremost experts on Gregorian chant.

Among the music offered are a world premiere by Romanian composer Gabriel Malancioiu, some “Pieces for unheard instruments” written by Ticinese Pietro Viviani and three poems by Alberto Nessi set to music by Paul Glass, a renowned Californian author who has lived in Lugano for decades.

In the titles defining the scope of each concert, it is highlighted how some iconic compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach are distributed across four different concert programs.