The singing of trees

Trees and music. Summer events at the Botanical Garden of Lucca.

On a May night trees are said to sing, in all the forests of the world, for those who are sensitive enough to listen. On that night Stradivari cut the woods for his violins and we all know how it turned out!
The Botanical Garden of Lucca dedicates classical and non-classical concerts to the trees of the arboretum on summer evenings. "The singing of trees" is a small festival of concerts of various kinds. A "listening path" made up of small events preceded by a short introduction.

With a little time available, you can enter the atmosphere with a walk on the Urban Walls exploring the numerous native and exotic species that grow there and that in summer refresh the avenues and ramparts with their generous foliage. Elms, with their ruffled and fresh crowns, to the exotic liodendrons that in autumn enrich the walk with their flaming leaves.
From oaks - symbol of the Mediterranean scrub - to holm oaks, to North American red oaks with their large leaves, from domestic poplars, widespread in the plain of Lucca as a useful tree in many peasant activities, to aromatic noble magnolias that arrived in the nineteenth century following the court of Princess Elisa. An unusual and fresh route to do on foot or by bicycle on the Walls of Lucca, one of the most famous and loved monuments of the city.

Before the concert, a visit to the Botanical Garden is a way to learn more about the history of this place and its varieties and to plunge into one of the most precious gardens in the historic center of Lucca.

The spaces of the Botanical Garden are organized to create an experience of the natural characteristics of the area of Lucca: the mound where the shrub and herbaceous species of the Mediterranean scrub grow in the shade of protective holm oaks. The wetlands  around the pond arrive at the end of the walk through the arboretum with ferns and water lilies and ... a legend to tell. The arboretum, the area where large trees meet exotic and indigenous species with their variegated shadows in summer and the romantic autumn foliage. The nursery where spontaneous and aromatic species are grown. And many other surprises to be discovered.

the singing of trees

The concerts begin at 9:15 pm

The program of the 2020 edition of the festival "The Singing of Trees":

Friday 17 July - Piano duo Chiara Nicora, Ferdinando Baroffio. Music by Beehtoven, Chemirade, Czemy.

Tuesday 21 July - The echo of Vesuvius, the history of the Neapolitan song. Stefano Albarello (voice and guitar).

Friday 24 July - Piano concert. Gaia Federica Caporiccio. Music by Mozart, Sgambati, Chopin, Ravel.

Tuesday 4 August - Concert for harpsichord. Tommaso Nicoli.

Tuesday 25 August - Forms and instruments of the instrumental Baroque. Linda Severi, Michele Orsi (oboe, straight flute); Francesco Mascolo (harpsichord). Music by Francesco Geminiani, Vivaldi, Marcello

Monday 28 August - Mozart Duets. By the Musicalia association

Friday 11 September - The voice of the wind - musical poetic itinerary. Duo Timbralia: Michela Aliberti, Michele Orsi

Tuesday 15 September - 18th century music and emotions. By the Musicalia association

(access to the concerts only by reservation, subject to availability of seats). Info and reservations: vivaticket.com or ticket office of the Botanical Garden tel +39 0583 950596 - biglietteria@ortobotanicodilucca.it)

The Botanical Garden will soon host, from 27 July to 1 August, the meetings of the "Dillo in Sintesi" festival with a tribute to the Botanical Garden of Lucca on 28 July at 9:15 pm with the event Botanica - L'Orto Botanico di Lucca - A synthesis of the Green Planet, with Marco Pardini, Etnobotanical and Alessandra Sani, Curator of the Botanical Garden of Lucca.

and, in August, some events of the "Lucca Classica Music Festival" festival are dedicated as well to the protagonists of the Botanical Garden

August 2 - Silent witnesses, the story of the garden told by the trees Alberto Bologni, violin J.S. Bach, Sonatas and violin plays only BWV 1001-1006

August 16 - Plants, between myth and reality. Francesco Gatti, flute: C. Debussy, Syrinx A. Jolivet, from the five spells for flute only A, C, E

August 25 - Alberto Bologni, violin. J. S. Bach, Sonatas and violin plays only BWV 1001-1006

August 30 - Unusual plants from distant countries Anna Livia Walker, harp M. Tounier, Au matin P. Chertok, Around the clock B. Smetana - Tnercek, Vltava da Moldau

(photocredits: R. Giomi)