Trekking up the trail with a bass cello: music in the Dolomites

By Daniela David Jun 8, 2010, 11:33 GMT

Trento, Italy - Musicians are lugging their heavy instruments on hiking trails through the mountains. An outsider who isn't in on the matter just might be baffled.

Normally, mountain climbers try to keep the weight of their backpacks as light as possible. But the uphill climb here at the music festival 'I Suoni delle Dolomiti' (the sounds of the Dolomites) is part of the program. Musicians and audience alike can only reach the concert venues up in the Italian Alps on foot.

Some of the concertgoers are somewhat out of breath when, after a several-hour trek starting in Fassatal, they arrive at Val de Dona. The 'concert hall' beneath the open sky has been reached: a high-altitude plateau far above the tree-line, with a 360-degree panoramic view of the imposing peaks of the Dolomite mountains. A mountain pasture covered in wild flowers serves as the seating in this concert venue.

Packed lunches, inflatable cushions and blankets emerge from the backpacks, and many a person immediately stretches out on the grass. The concert begins in the early afternoon. The musical sounds, the melodies, the panorama of mountain peaks and a light swirling breeze mix in together with the sound of cows mooing in the distance.

'To me, this is a musical paradise,' says Isabella Costa, an Italian woman who every summer attends several festival concerts. 'In the meantime, I believe that even the instruments are happy to be playing outside.'

Her teenage daughter Antonella enjoys the immediate contact with the musicians. The audience simply sits around them, there being no pit separating them like in a concert hall.

The musicians come from different countries. 'Each year new musicians are invited,' explains festival official Paolo Manfrini. Their spectrum ranges from the classical to the modern, and jazz musicians and song composers also have their gigs up in the mountains.

Mario Brunello, a well-known Italian cellist, is the one artist who is always in the festival. This summer he will again be undertaking a trek lasting several days - with his cello strapped to his back. On the summit of the Monte Castellazzo, 24 cellos will be greeting the morning sun with Mozart.

Musicians from Germany also answer the call of the mountains. For the soloists of the world-famous Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, who perform in the festival under the name Ensemble Berlin, the contrast between the Alpine world and the bustling German capital could scarcely be any greater. The concerts take place at elevations ranging from 1,200 metres to 3,000 metres above sea level.

'Since the festival began in 1995 the number of visitors has been rising,' says artistic director Chiara Bassetti. Concert attendance ranges between 100 and 5,000 music-lovers. Last summer's festival drew a total of around 50,000 guests, half of them from Italy and the other half from around the world.

'Music is a universal language and the mountains are a universal setting,' Bassetti says. 'To us, the two belong together.'

And so hardly anyone in the Dolomites gets surprised any more when they see somebody climbing towards the top with a bass cello on their back.

This year's 2010 Festival runs June 20 to August 27. All 35 concerts are free of charge. The hikes range from simple walks to mountain treks of several days. On rainy days the concerts are transferred to other venues.