The Tuscan Sun Festival, has ben called “Ten Best Summer Arts Festivals in Europe” by The Independent newspaper in the UK, celebrates its fifth anniversary with its most spectacular artistic line-up to date.
Italy’s beloved Sophia Loren will officially open the Festival during a gala concert in honour of her late husband, legendary film producer Carlo Ponti, on August 4th.
The open-air symphonic concert will pay tribute to Ponti’s life and career and will be conducted by their son, Maestro Carlo Ponti Jr. This year’s festival will also feature performances by the Belcea Quartet, Joshua Bell, José Cura, Stéphane Denève, Elïna Garanča, Emmanuelle Haïm, Angelika Kirchschlager, Nina Kotova, Viktoria Mullova, Anna Netrebko, the Takács Quartet, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Nikolaj Znaider.
Robert Redford will performe with a reading of Giacomo Leopardi's poetries.
In addition to its musical programme, the Tuscan Sun Festival will also be celebrating its fifth year with art exhibitions, lectures, cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, and wellness sessions, which will be taking place in lovely settings and venues inside the town of Cortona.
MORE INFO AT:
http://www.festivaldelsole.com/
ps don't miss:
COOKING DEMONSTRATIONS
A local chef will demonstrate how to prepare popular Tuscan dishes, such as Ribollita, Gnocchi and Tuscan meat sauce. The demonstration will be accompanied with copies of the recipes and a tasting sample of what is has been prepared. The cooking demonstrations will take place in the courtyard of Sant’Agostino Monastery.
WINE TASTINGS
In a series of tastings, the Wine Consortium of Cortona will showcase the very best wines of Tuscany, selected from the wide range of high quality wines produced in Val di Chiana. The Consortium, established in 2000, now comprises 19 wineries, 12 of whom will present their wines during the Festival:
Avignonesi
Baldetti Mario
La Braccesca
I.S.I.S. A. Vegni
La Calonica
Tenimenti L. d'Alessandro
Vitivinicola del Cavaliere
Giannoni Fabbri
Baracchi
Fabrizio Dionisio
Cantine Faralli
Querciagrossa
