Maestro Riccardo Muti returns to Ravenna this week to lead an unprecedented choral gathering that has drawn more than 3,500 amateur and professional singers from every corner of Italy. The two-day immersive event, scheduled for June 1 and 2 at the Pala de André, marks the second edition of "Cantare amantis est"—a Latin phrase meaning "to sing is proper to one who loves"—and reinforces the conductor's lifelong conviction that music can bridge social divides and foster collective purpose in troubled times.
Why This Matters:
• Over 3,500 participants from all Italian regions will rehearse and perform under Muti's baton, making this one of the largest choral projects ever staged in the country.
• Open-access masterclasses: Public tickets are available for just €10 (€5 for under-18s), offering rare insight into how a world-class conductor shapes thousands of voices in real time.
• The repertoire—Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus," Bellini's "Casta Diva," Verdi's Requiem excerpt, and Boito's Mefistofele Prologue—is designed to showcase the natural capacity of Italian singers for legato phrasing and lyric intensity.
• The event is dedicated to Don Giovanni Minzoni, a Catholic priest murdered by fascist thugs in 1923 for refusing to disband youth scout groups in defiance of Mussolini-era authorities.
A National Experiment in Mass Harmony
When Muti first conceived "Cantare amantis est" in 2025, more than 3,000 voices assembled in Ravenna. The maestro recalls the moment he gave the downbeat for Verdi's "Va pensiero"—the unofficial anthem of Italian unification—and heard the ensemble lock into a unified sound with minimal preparation. "I experienced a magic I still cannot explain," he said in a recent interview. That spontaneous cohesion, he argues, reveals something fundamental about Italy's cultural fabric: a "fertile humus" and a widespread readiness for choral singing, even among those who never received formal musical training.
This year's roster has swelled by nearly 20%. Participants include professional choir members, church cantors, university music students, and amateurs who sing in regional folk ensembles or community choruses. The age range spans teenagers to retirees, and geographic representation extends from Sicily to South Tyrol. What unites them, Muti insists, is not technical polish but an urgent need to express themselves with a certain "executive nobility"—to grasp phrasing, tone color, and emotional architecture that standard education and media coverage too often neglect.
The Pedagogy of Listening
Muti's critique of Italy's music education infrastructure is blunt. He has called for a cultural "tsunami" to dislodge entrenched indifference, arguing that music should be as mandatory in schools as the Italian language itself. He views the current curriculum—sporadic exposure to patriotic songs or rudimentary solfeggio—as inadequate to cultivate the kind of conscious listening and collaborative discipline that choral singing demands.
In his view, the absence of robust musical formation contributes to broader social ills, from youth violence to a weakened sense of civic belonging. "Singing together, like playing together, is the province of those who cultivate love," he explained, invoking Saint Augustine's dictum that inspired the project's title. "It is about uniting under the higher sign of harmony and beauty, pursuing the common good."
That philosophy underpins every element of "Cantare amantis est." The two-day schedule consists of three intensive sessions—Sunday afternoon at 15:00, Monday morning at 10:30, and Monday afternoon at 15:30—during which Muti will dissect each work's stylistic requirements, correct blend and balance issues, and coach singers on breathing, vowel shape, and dynamic nuance. Soprano Maria Grazia Schiavo and pianist Davide Cavalli will join for the Verdi and Bellini excerpts, adding soloistic color to the monumental choral fabric.
Repertoire as Spiritual Journey
The program traces an arc from celestial serenity to earthbound fervor. Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus," originally scored for a small choir, becomes a meditative prayer when performed by thousands. Muti emphasizes that the piece's meaning does not depend on headcount or adherence to "historically informed" performance practice but on respecting its intrinsic style—a quality of hushed reverence and transparent texture.
Bellini's "Casta Diva," drawn from the opera Norma, serves as a laboratory for Italian legato, the seamless vocal line that mirrors the language's flowing vowels. This aria, sung by a Druid priestess calling for peace, exemplifies bel canto phrasing at its most demanding.
The Verdi Requiem excerpt features a cappella writing that interacts with the soprano soloist, testing the choir's ability to maintain pitch and dynamic control without instrumental support. Finally, the Prologue from Boito's Mefistofele—a cosmic dialogue between heavenly and infernal forces—demands full-throated vigor and theatrical intensity. Together, the four pieces constitute a spiritual itinerary, moving from "the most ethereal page, inspired as if from heaven, to the most full-blooded, brimming with fervor and sacred fire," as Muti put it.
Memorial to a Martyr of Conscience
This year's edition is dedicated to Don Giovanni Minzoni, a World War I chaplain awarded the silver medal for military valor during the Battle of the Piave. After returning to his parish in Argenta (Ferrara province, within the Archdiocese of Ravenna), he championed cooperative movements among laborers and founded Catholic scout troops in direct opposition to the Fascist youth brigades. His refusal to dissolve those groups and redirect young people into Mussolini's organizations made him a target.
On August 23, 1923, two fascist operatives—acting on orders from Italo Balbo, a senior Ferrara party leader—assaulted Minzoni with clubs and stones. He died from his injuries. The killers were initially acquitted; only after the regime's collapse in 1946 did the Court of Cassation annul that verdict and convict them of manslaughter, though both were immediately released under a broad amnistia. Minzoni is now recognized as a martyr, and his beatification process is underway.
By invoking Minzoni's memory, Muti draws a direct line between the priest's commitment to conscience and community and the unifying ethos of choral music. Both, he suggests, resist authoritarianism through the cultivation of shared values—freedom, peace, and the common good.
What This Means for Residents
For anyone living in Italy—especially those who sing in church choirs, amateur ensembles, or simply enjoy choral music—"Cantare amantis est" offers tangible benefits beyond the headlines:
Accessible participation: The project accepts singers of all levels, making elite mentorship available to a mass audience rather than conservatory students alone.
Cultural reaffirmation: At a moment when populist rhetoric often fractures civic identity, the initiative reasserts a unifying narrative rooted in Italy's operatic and liturgical traditions.
Educational model: Muti's public masterclasses demonstrate how rigorous technique and emotional authenticity coexist, offering a template for community music programs nationwide.
Economic ripple: Ravenna benefits from an influx of thousands of participants and spectators, supporting hotels, restaurants, and cultural tourism during the shoulder season.
Sessions are open to the public for a nominal fee, granting non-participants a rare chance to witness a living legend at work. The €10 ticket (half-price for minors) is roughly equivalent to the cost of a cinema outing, yet the experience is singular: watching 3,500 voices cohere under a single gesture, transforming individual intention into collective sound.
The Universal Language in a Fractured Era
Muti has long argued that music transcends the fault lines—cultural, religious, linguistic—that politics often fails to bridge. His "Le Vie dell'Amicizia" (Roads of Friendship) concert series, launched in 1997 under the Ravenna Festival banner, has taken orchestras to conflict zones from Sarajevo to Kyiv, Beirut to Tehran. "Cantare amantis est" extends that mission to the domestic sphere, asserting that thousands of Italians singing in unison constitute a vivid example of society striving for harmony and beauty.
In an epoch marked by geopolitical upheaval and domestic polarization, the symbolic weight of such gatherings cannot be dismissed as mere sentimentality. They function as acts of cultural resistance—not against any single adversary, but against the erosion of shared space and common purpose. Whether or not every participant achieves perfect intonation, the act of coordinating breath, vowel, and dynamic across regional and generational divides embodies the disciplined empathy that civic life requires.
When the first session begins Monday afternoon, Muti will raise his baton before a sea of faces representing Italy's full geographic and social spectrum. The sound that emerges will be imperfect, human, and utterly irreplaceable—a reminder that the capacity to listen, adjust, and blend remains the foundation of any functioning democracy.
