“Fil_Armonia”, the music and spirituality festival at the Certosa di Firenze

Eight appointments to “tune” the world and learn to listen to it again: from 4 to 16 September 2022 there Charterhouse of Florence hosts Fil_Armonia, music and spirituality festivalconceived and produced by The Filharmonie, a young orchestra founded in 2016 and the only under 35 music hub in Tuscany, with the artistic direction of Giulio Arnofi and the musical direction of Nima Keshavarzi. Six concerts and two conferences designed to stimulate a reflection on the human being and his relationship with nature, stopping to listen, in the most frenetic and noisy era in history.

Music enters the place of silence: the monumental complex of the Certosa, built in the fourteenth century at the gates of the city, was in fact inhabited for centuries by Carthusian monks who made silence the main method of relating with their individuality, the community and the world. Today the Certosa is guarded by the Community of San Leolino, which promotes cultural and spiritual initiatives there.

In line with the past and present history of the Certosa, La Filharmonie has structured a review of concerts, conferences and multidisciplinary shows which focuses on music and the notion of harmony. This is the first of a cycle: this first edition of the Fil_Armonia festival is dedicated to the theme of spirituality, understood in the widest possible sense as a dimension in which to find a new balance with oneself, others and the world we belong to. The conferences will deepen the relationships between music, visual arts, philosophy and spirituality while the musical program is largely dedicated to the twentieth century and contemporaneity and is presented as a journey through songs characterized by very different sensibilities but united by the red thread of the themes of the festival.

The place chosen is most appropriate for another great theme of Fil_Armonia: ecology, understood this time as acoustic ecology. In fact, pollution is not just about Climate Change, but also the sound dimension, with proven psychological and physical damage to people and the animal world. Increased awareness of sound can help rethink the design of urban areas. But not only that: it can encourage listening to oneself and to the world.

“Fil_Armonia in Italian it is an invented word. The meaning, however, is very clear – declares Paolo Cognetti, one of the creators of the festival – and expresses the love for the classical ideal of a musically ordered world, before the “tear in the sky of paper” of Pirandello’s memory. It is not a question of nostalgia for lost time, but of a search aimed at rediscovering the balance of the human being with himself and with nature, as a profound connection of everything. And really this reconciliation it seems more necessary today, after two years from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the resulting economic and social consequences and uncertainty for the future, aggravated by the war that broke out in Ukraine, on the borders of Europe. Once again we must ask ourselves about the meaning of our identity, not just cultural, we must ask ourselves who we are And who we want to beunder penalty of the definitive forfeiture of our companies “.

“We are convinced that music can contribute to heal our world forgotten with its healing power because it helps to improve the ability to listen and in its being a creative act can symbolically but not only oppose destructive forces – war is its quintessence – and reveal a fertile ground on which to undertake transformation paths ”, He concludes.

Founded in 2016, La Filharmonie – Florence Philharmonic Orchestra is among the seven youth instrumental ensembles recognized and supported by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities in Italy, it was also the winner of the Smart & Coop 2017 competition supported by the CR Firenze Foundation and Legacoop Toscana as the best cultural start-up in the area. The Orchestra, with its over forty elements, flexibly deals with symphonic and chamber music, musical theater, opera and ballet and new forms of expression. His Season of Opera, Ballet and Concerts is the result of a constant search for elements of innovation, new sounds and new productions in dialogue with the great lyric-symphonic repertoire.

During its seasons, the Filharmonie has established artistic and institutional collaboration relationships with some of the major protagonists of the national territory including the Municipalities of Florence and Campi Bisenzio, the Metropolitan City of Florence, the Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato, the Boccherini Studies Center in Lucca, the Mus.e Firenze Association, the Accademia dei Perseveranti Foundation, the New Ballet of Tuscany, the University of Florence, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, the School of Music in Fiesole, the Scientific-Literary Cabinet GP Vieusseux, GAMO, the Music Composers Association for Film and the Summer Regina Festival of Montecatini Terme. The Filharmonie Orchestra is managed by the homonymous Association; Giulio Arnofi is its artistic director and Nima Keshavarzi’s musical director, and enjoys the prestigious collaboration of Maestro Roberto Abbado as guest director and honorary artistic consultant.

For more information: www.lafilharmonie.com

“Fil_Armonia”, the music and spirituality festival at the Certosa di Firenze