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Umbria Umbria Music Festivals

Umbria hosts over 20 music festivals each year, an astonishing number given this region's tiny size and population. Even more surprising, however, is the world-class quality of the music festival scene - belying the otherwise sleepy, provincial character of these bucolic rolling hills and medieval stone villages.

The height of the festival season is the summer, of course, as organizers take advantage of the warm evenings to hold concerts and events in the stunning piazze and gardens across the region, but good listening is to be had even in the dead of winter.

Here are some of the best annual music festivals, and why you should take the time to stop by for a listen.

Umbria Jazz
Where: Perugia
When: July
Why: Umbria Jazz is the king of Umbria's music festivals; a juggernaut of an international event which stretches over two weeks and attracts some of the biggest names in jazz (and beyond - I have seen R.E.M., Alicia Keys, and Eric Clapton here, as well). The lively feel in Perugia during UJ is irresistible - take a walk down the main Corso and pop in at one of the free outdoor concerts if you don't want to spring for tickets at one of the headlining concerts. If you are driving into town for a mainstage event, give yourself plenty of time to park and get settled before the set starts - traffic is notoriously a gnarled mess the evenings of sold-out shows. I get to town early, take a fun stroll downtown, and then head to the venue (usually the Santa Giuliana stadium) about an hour ahead of time, where I buy a beer and sandwich from the stands inside, dine on the lawn, people-watch in leisure.

If you cannot make it to Perugia for Umbria Jazz, don't despair. Umbria Jazz Winter is held every December in Orvieto, and Jazz Club Perugia's season runs from November to March, featuring Italian and international musicians plunking out some of the best jazz around.

If you are curious about the Italian jazz scene, try Gubbio No Borders Italian Jazz Festival in August. These are the heppest cats in the Boot.

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Umbria Jazz

Festival dei Due Mondi
Where: Spoleto
When: June
Why: If Umbria Jazz is the king of Umbria's music festivals, the Spoleto Festival - as it is colloquially known - is the queen. UJ powers through with the sheer force of its size and star power, where the Spoleto Festival finesses the fine arts with grace and dignity, bringing the lovely city of Spoleto to life along with it. More of an arts than strictly a music festival, the program is rich with opera, classical music, dance, theater, and cinema events. If you are looking for an excuse to visit Spoleto (which, by the way, you don’t need. This stately hill town is worth a visit on its own.), this is a great one.

Trasimeno Blues
Where: the towns surrounding Lake Trasimeno
When: July
Why: I am from Chicago, so nothing says "summer" to me like an outdoor blues show on a lake shore. Yes, I realize the venue, crowd, and lake are all about 1/100th of what I'm used to, but the vibe at Trasimeno Blues is regardless big fun (and, given that public drunken antics are rare and frowned upon in Italy, this is one great blues show that you won't risk vomit-splattered shoes at.). The concerts are held at a number of locations around Lake Trasimeno, but I am especially partial to those at Castiglione del Lago's romantic medieval fortress.

Trasimeno grooves all year long, so if you won't be around in July try Bianco Rosso & Blues (concerts with dinner and wine tasting from local vintners) from August through October, or Soul Christmas during the month of December.

Sagra Musicale Umbra
Where: Umbria
When: September
Why: Location, location, location. Yes, the classical music at the Sagra Musicale Umbra is fabulous, but I would be a big fat liar if I didn't admit that usually the main reason I attend these concerts is the venue. SMU's events are often held in churches, abbeys, and palazzi generally closed to the public, and I have been known to sit through an entire harpsichord concerto (an instrument I can usually tollerate for a maximum of 12 minutes, 13, tops.) if it will get me into a mysterious monument I have passed a million times but never managed to find open - in fact, I did just that last year and finally saw the elegant Romanesque interior of Spello's delightful 11th century San Claudio church. If you are picking through the program trying to decide on a concert, I suggest you give heavy weight to its location. The music may fade with time, but these heart-stopping historic halls certainly won't.

Perugia's Classical Music Foundation season program runs from October to May and equals the SMU in quality of music, if not eccentricity of venue. Concerts are held in Perugia's Sala dei Notari, Morlacchi Theater, and San Pietro Basilica - three stunning settings, but not much cloak and dagger-ing has to go on to visit any of the three on your own.

Umbria Folk Festival
Where: Orvieto
When: August
Why: If you are wondering what else is out there on the contemporary Italian music scene besides winners of X-Factor and Tiziano Ferro, the Umbria Folk Festival is the perfect opportunity to find out. Many of these artists put a hipster spin on historic regional Italian musical traditions or instruments, so expect to hear echoes of the Tarantella and lots of guitar and accordian. Fun stuff (and most of the concerts are free).

Assisi Cambio Festival
Where: Palazzo di Assisi
When: July
Why: This nano-festival (last year Assisi Cambio Festival hosted a sum total of four concerts) is near and dear to my heart. One, because I think it is a shame and a scandal and a mystery that the powers that be in Assisi cannot pull their act together enough to put on a decent music festival during the year (I mean, come on, Narni has a music festival. Narni. Really, people.). Two, because this little bon bon of a festival was the brainchild of a group of locals who decided to throw it together a few years ago, and they've done a damned fine job of keeping their momentum going. And three, because Palazzo (a hamlet right outside of Assisi) has a fetching little castle courtyard which is the perfect place to pop in for a concert on a summer night, and is exactly 43 meters from The. Best. Gelato. In. Assisi (Il Gelato del Boia (Oxy Bar)). So, to recap: Medieval castle courtyard, summer night, live jazz, best gelato. Need I say more?

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Umbria Jazz

Also ran
Festival delle Nazioni (Città di Castello in August): Classical music festival focusing on one guest country each year.
Preggio Music Festival (Umbertide in July/August): Once upon a time, there was an Opera Festival in Umbertide. Now there is a little music festival, which includes one night of opera. Sigh.
Festival Pianistico (Spoleto in April): Classical music festival for piano focusing on a single composer each year.
Todi Festival (Todi in September): An ecclectic fine arts festival in the fetching town of Todi.
Segni Barocchi Festival (Foligno in September): Umbria is awash with medieval festivals, so it is refreshing to have a historic festival concentrate on a different period - Baroque, in this case. Music, art, costumed events.
Voodoo Music Festival (Trevi in August): A series of contemporary world music concerts held in the gardens of historic Villa Fabri.
Trasimeno Music Festival (Magione in July): This upscale classical music festival is the pet project of Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt and is held in the dramatic courtyard of Magione’s Castle of the Knights of Malta.

Rebecca Winke – Rebecca moved to Italy from Chicago in 1993 and spends her time writing about the lovely country she now calls home for various print and online publications and wondering what strange winds blew an urbanite to a tiny hilltown in Umbria.
 

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