[slideshow] This summer ISI Florence has been transformed: Bach echoes down the stairwells, students with lutes barge past teachers in the corridor, we eat our lunch listening to exquisite chords… Music is everywhere and, hopefully, will remain for the Performing Arts Program is finally up and running. Every Thursday evening Palazzo Rucellai hosted the Concert Series. These musical afternoons saw a unique array of talent that embraced a variety of genres and historical periods. The Series started off with world-renowned lutenist Massimo Lonardi whose arpeggios transported the audience back in time with a solo performance of original scores from the Renaissance. On May 31, Schubert’s “The Trout”, was performed by a captivating quintet which included performers from the Music Conservatory Luigi Boccherini in Lucca, Alberto Bologni and Gabriele Ragghianti; University of Colorado professors and performers Lina Bahn, Judy Glyde, and So Young Lee, and ISI’s director Antonio Artese on piano. Students of ISI’s Performing Arts Program, “Renaissance Then and Now” proudly showed off their talent on June 14. And on June 21, soloists from the Oberlin Conservatory (Arezzo) performed a breathtaking set of operatic arias from Verdi to Mozart. To close the summer Concert Series, University of California, Santa Barbara Winds Ensemble led by Prof. Jill Felber and Paul Bambach offered a Renaissance approach to contemporary wind performance. Oboe, clarinet, flute and bassoon players performed a variety of musical repertoires in two different venues: the first concert was held at Palazzo Rucellai, followed by a performance in Montalcino, at the Chiostro del Museo for “Archaeology Night” on Friday July 6, and the last one again at Palazzo Rucellai on July 10. Throughout the Series Palazzo Rucellai was always filled to capacity for these events: all advertised by email alone.

Jill Felber is Professor of Flute at UCSB and an internationally recognized flutist.
Paul Bambach is Senior Lecturer of Clarinet at UCSB.
Fine pianist Dianne Frazer is the collaborator.