The Tavarnelle Friends of Music Association was founded in 1978 to encourage music in the area by staging concerts for audiences already familiar with the repertoire but also by promoting educational activities and by engaging with young local musicians.
The large numbers of tourists visiting Tavarnelle, especially in the summer, from countries where concert-going is more a way of life, and the chance to be able to stage events in beautiful historic settings have made the Association more successful and given it more prestige than we could have hoped to imagine. At the same time it has made us more aware of the need to promote the extraordinary cultural patrimony of this part of Tuscany among our members and friends from abroad, especially from the north of Europe.
For this reason, we are especially pleased that after an absence of ten years the Pentecost Festival returns this year to its true home, the monastery of Badia a Passignano.
It was after the return of the Vallombrosan monks to Badia in 1986, that our association developed close ties with the monastery, showing how correct use of our historical heritage can provide invaluable support for cultural activities while also giving these places a new dimension and life.
The churches, abbeys and monumental buildings found throughout Tuscany are the foundation, and not just the frame, of our activity because the beauty of these places is the best way to promote our concerts and also because the cult of beauty and the sense of responsibility we feel towards our history is what gives impetus to our work.
All this would obviously not have been enough, had it not been for the encouragement and support of local institutions and of the monastic community: the history of a volunteer association that has been active for thirty years, in good times and bad, depends on the enthusiasm, intelligence and dedication of all those who at different times have contributed to its success. We thank them most sincerely.
Tra le varie iniziative realizzate dalla “Associazione Amici della Musica” in collaborazione con il Comune di Tavarnelle Val di Pesa ricordiamo l’attribuzione del “Premio A. Toscanini” ai seguenti direttori d’orchestra che ci hanno fatto l’onore della loro presenza:
Maestro Riccardo Muti (1982)
Maestro Zubin Mehta (1983)
Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini (1985)
Maestro Myung-Whun Chung (1989)