From February to May Animando, the music promotion centre, is presenting further events in the “eighteenth century music in Lucca” project. There’s a round table, a film, an evening of baroque dance and five concerts. Naturally there will be performances by Lucca composers such as Francesco Barsanti, Francesco Geminiani, Luigi Boccherini, with the focus on Giacomo Puccini senior, towards whose full appreciation animando’s artistic director, Silvano Pieruccini, has been working for some years. In addition, there will be works by other baroque composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini, Giovan Battista Viotti, from Bologna (where Francesco Manfredini from Pistoia trained) to Tommaso Traetta from Naples. Free admission.

On Friday, March 25th (Good Friday) at 9 pm in the historic centre, as part of the liturgy commemorating Christ’s crucifixion, music from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion will be performed in San Salvatore church. There’s the aria “Ich will dir mein Herze schenken” with soprano Alessandra Rossi and tenor Claudio Sassetti. The Baroque Choir is directed by Silvano Pieruccini. The “Nuove assonanze” ensemble is conducted by Alan Freiles.