Invitation to Music, the program. The Foundation: “Over 300 people from the province and Modena”

Bologna, 3 July 2025 – “Music must be accessible to everyone, and everyone must be able to reach it”. This is the principle that guides the Fondazione Musica Insieme , which has been offering the 'Invito alla Musica' project in the area since 2003. The initiative allows the public of the metropolitan city of Bologna and Modena to reach the Auditorium Manzoni with a free coach service, included in the season ticket, from their municipality of residence and back.

“We bring over 300 people every year from all over the metropolitan city,” says Alessandra Scardovi, president of the Foundation. “We are very proud: we are the only ones in Italy to do so. As vice president of the Amur national committee, I am often invited to talk about this experience and every time everyone is impressed. They try to replicate it, but after 22 years we are still unique.”

Since this year, Invito alla Musica has been accepted as a Main Project by Emil Banca , which has long supported Musica Insieme. “We believe in culture as a driver of development in the area,” explains Gian Luca Galletti, president of Emil Banca. “The 'Invito alla musica' project is particularly important : it also allows residents of the most isolated municipalities to participate in the cultural life of the city. We remain present in those areas, we do not close branches, while many other banks have withdrawn. This project is perfectly in line with our values.”

The same spirit animates the support of Confcommercio Ascom Bologna , as explained by the general manager Giancarlo Tonelli: "Musica Insieme is a reference for inclusive culture. We support the initiative because it combines music, culture and care for others. It is a virtuous example of how a cultural association can also operate in a social context". Furthermore, the initiative also has an environmental value, contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions thanks to the use of collective transport.

The Municipalities where 'Invitation to Music' arrives

Invito alla Musica involves every year music lovers from more than thirty locations in the metropolitan city of Bologna: Bazzano, Crespellano, Ponte Ronca, Zola Predosa, Riale, Pieve di Cento, Cento, San Giovanni in Persiceto, Anzola Emilia, Medicina, Budrio, Castenaso, Granarolo Emilia, San Pietro in Casale, Ponterosso, San Giorgio di Piano, Argelato, Funo, Castelmaggiore, Marzabotto. Sasso Marconi. Pontecchio, Borgonuovo, Casalecchio di Reno, Imola, Castel San Pietro Terme, Osteria Grande, Ozzano, Idice, Cicogna, San Lazzaro di Savena. Furthermore, in line with the collaborative relationship between the respective administrations that led to the birth of the Bologna-Modena Tourist Territory , since 2017 the Invito alla Musica offer has also been extended to Modena, which has been a key interlocutor since then, through the partnership with the Italian Musical Youth. And since 2024, the International Academy "Incontri col Maestro" of Imola has also offered its students the opportunity to participate in Invito alla Musica, precisely for the purpose of enriching their educational experience by listening to the great Masters. "It is an extraordinary project, which creates the right conditions to generate new opportunities for meeting between cultural supply and demand: Musica Insieme brings an interested audience to the theater, which does not have similar cultural offerings in the area, a way of transforming a limit into an opportunity", adds Daniele Del Pozzo , Bologna's culture councilor.

What shows does it involve?

The Invito alla Musica project concerns ten of the shows in the 2025/26 Musica Insieme program at the Auditorium Manzoni, from October 13 to May 18. An appointment with an almost monthly frequency, at 8:30 pm, which involves international and highly esteemed artists: the first appointment of the program is on October 13 with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, then on October 27 it is the turn of the virtuoso violinist Sergej Krylov, in a duet with Fazil Say, famous Turkish pianist and composer. The celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the death of Dmitri Shostakovich will be held on November 24, 2025 , with an exciting marathon that, thanks to the idea of ​​pianist Boris Petrushansky, will involve several generations, from soprano Nikoletta Hertsak to the experience of Laura Marzadori , a native of Bologna, first violin at the Teatro alla Scala, and Enrico Bronzi, cello soloist and director of the Perugia Chamber Orchestra.

There will also be a “crossover” with Together at Christmas! by the Swingle Singers (December 15, 2025), an a cappella vocal group that has won five Grammy Awards, who will perform Musica Insieme’s Christmas greetings between jazz, pop, and world music. There will also be the opportunity to listen to two pianists who are “almost at opposite poles,” as Fulvia De Colle, artistic director of the Musica Insieme Foundation, explained: on one side, Alexander Malofeev, twenty-four, one of the most amazing interpreters of the latest generation, whose program transports you across centuries and genres (January 12, 2026), and on the other, one of today’s greatest soloists, Hélène Grimaud, with the “three Bs” of the history of music, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms (March 24, 2026). Among the four orchestras that will dot the calendar, the Accademia Bizantina with Ottavio Dantone will bring the baroque repertoire of the Bach Dynasty on February 9, while on March 16 we will move on to the string quartet with the mastery of the Takács Quartet.

On April 20, Bologna will meet the United States, with American violin icon Gil Shaham meeting Markus Placci, a Bolognese who also found his artistic home in America. Closing the season on May 18 will be the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, which will arrive in Bologna exclusively for Musica Insieme with its soloist and guest conductor Luigi Piovano, on the notes of Mozart's dramatic and much-loved Symphony No. 40 in G minor.

Subscription Information

Subscriptions to the Invito alla Musica festival, reserved for residents of the Municipalities of the Metropolitan City of Bologna and the Emilia-Romagna Region, cost from €225 for the Il Galleria to €335 for the I Platea, and include admission to 10 concerts and bus service from the Municipalities of residence to the Teatro Auditorium Manzoni and back. Also noteworthy is the special formula Il mio primo abbonamento, dedicated to Under 17 students of the Music Schools of the area, which includes 8 concerts at the symbolic cost of €64 and offers bus service to all students who live outside Bologna.