"That is the hope and aim of the forthcoming Turin Music Fair. The event is based on the same conviction as the Book Fair before it; namely, that Italian culture in all its various forms is alive and kicking, and that the Italian public is an extremely receptive one. The question is: how do we offer this public the right stimuli? The Fair will attempt to solve the problem, but without restricting its sphere of interest to a single genre. The guiding thread of the entire event will be the joy of listening to and playing music - all music.
The Fair has two ethical imperatives: 1) to review musical history and culture - meaning artistes and artisans, songs and instruments, live performance and long hours spent in recording studios - and 2) to protect the rights of authors and producers from pirate recording, a scourge that has to be stamped out at all costs.
The Music Fair must, first and foremost, be an occasion for enjoyment. The recording and musical instruments industry will allow the general public direct access to their world through get-togethers with the stars of pop and classical music, of heavy metal and jazz, and single presentations of the latest developments in instruments, from the most refined pianos to scintillating trumpets.
The Fair will be an occasion to gradually raise the degree of musical literacy, but also an opportunity to view a well-stocked showcase of recordings, to touch instruments, to meet critics, to hear the most various music - or simply to ask the latest idols for their autographs.
There will be meetings and conferences for all, each devised to give a much needed boost to interest in musical culture. The event will cover everything from artistic topics to matters scientific, alternating concerts and events of national importance with others with an international scope.
Special attention will be dedicated to schools - already one of the Book Fair’s preferential targets, as its long-standing collaboration with the Ministry of Education testifies. To build up the interest of schoolchildren, we have organized a series of concerts at the Lingotto Fiere Congress which, starting from early 1996, acted virtually as a countdown to the Fair itself in October.
The dates chosen for the Fair - October 10-15 - will ideally set the seal on Turin’s wealth of summer music events and inaugurate the winter season, enabling the city of Turin to reassert its role as a ‘music capital’ - in Italy at least.
Besides promoting numerous single projects, the Fair will also commemorate distinguished figures in Italian music. The first such initiative will be dedicated to Massimo Mila, the man who laid the bases for contemporary musical criticism. We have named an annual international award for books about music after him."
Guido Accornero
Salone della Musica
Uffici: Via Susa 35, 10138 Torino (Italia)
Tel: +39-11-433.7054 / Fax: +39-11-433.1056
email: prosa@prosaloni.com
URL:http://www.prosaloni.com