Lovers of ancient music will be flocking to Modena from September 23^rd to November 10^th for the by now traditional appointment with the Associazione Musicale Estense - the Estense Musical Festival.
This year's edition, poetically named Grandezze e meraviglie (Splendour and Marvels) will be inaugurated in the beautiful surrounds of Modena's Palazzo Ducale, in the recently renovated salone d'onore, to the exquisite late-mediaeval notes of the Mala Punica ensemble. The next date is in the Galleria Estense to pay homage to an exceptional instrument and emblem of this year's festival, the marble guitar, from Francesco II's collection along with a selection of other string instruments on loan from the Civic Museum.
One of the novelties of this year's festival is an anthology of vocal and instrumental pieces written by the Bononcini family. The concert is part of project devised by Chiara Banchini which focuses on Modenese musicians and which will continue to develop over the next few years. The Septenarius choir, conducted by Giacomo Baroffio will play a repertoire of Gregorian chant which flourished in the ethnic French part of Modena.
Other highlights include a recital of sonatas with violins, violones and dulcimers in the Chiesa di San Pietro followed by a rare concert dedicated to the magnificent old organ in Chiesa di San Carlo featuring pieces on the dulcimer. The revelries close with the festival production of the Farnese court musician Francesco Antonio Pistocchi's oratorio Il Martirio di S. Adriano. The piece, which was written for the marriage of Francesco II d'Este to Margherita Farnese, celebrates Saint Hadrian's martyrdom in a rich orchestration of arias and recitatives.

Sabbioneta Festival
The first edition of the Sabbioneta Festival opened on August 31^st and will run until Sunday November 11^th. Sabbioneta, with its high cultural profile is the ideal setting for a music festival and the programme of this debut edition is dedicated to the music composed in Lombardy and Emilia between the XIV and XVIII centuries.
All concerts will be held in Sabbioneta's magnificent old buildings and visitors will surely enjoy this delightful corner of the Province of Mantua which overlooks the Po river and the plains of Emilia Romagna.
There are three events for your diary in October. On Sunday 7^th in the Teatro all’Antica you have the chance to hear Ensemble 415, conducted by Chiara Banchini. On Friday 12^th, still in the Teatro all'Antica, you can look forward to a somewhat unorthodox evening of music and dance dedicated to Domenico Scarlatti and the rhythms of Spanish folk music where Scarlatti's folk roots will be unveiled for all. On Thursday 25^th in the Regno di Napoli the soprano Lavinia Bertotti accompanied by the Complesso Seicento Italiano and conducted by Daniele Boccaccio will perform one of Scarlatti's most moving works - Tre lettere amorose. The festival closes on Sunday November 11^th with a Gala evening in Antonio Galli Bibiena's stunning Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate in Villa Pasquali, just outside Sabbioneta, with a stirring rendition of the Martirio di S. Adriano.