The first International Chamber Music Festival of Cervo was inaugurated in 1964, the brainchild of the renowned Hungarian violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist Sandor Vegh

Sándor Végh

Sándor Végh was a Hungarian, later French, violinist and conductor. He was best known as one of the great chamber music violinists of the twentieth century.- Education :...

. It is held every summer in the picturesque church square (July – August). Among the world-class stars who have performed are Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was a virtuoso Italian classical pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, as well as one of the most important Italian pianists along with Ferruccio Busoni and Maurizio Pollini.-Biography:Born in Brescia, Italy, he began...

, Sviatoslav Richter

Sviatoslav Richter

Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet pianist well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique, and vast repertoire. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Childhood:...

, Wilhelm Kempff

Wilhelm Kempff

Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he also...

, Maurizio Pollini

Maurizio Pollini

Maurizio Pollini is an Italian classical pianist.- Biography and career :Pollini was born in Milan to the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini. Maurizio studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18...

, Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...

, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, DBE was a German-born Austrian/British soprano opera singer and recitalist. She was among the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century, much admired for her performances of Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, and Wolf.-Early life:Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike...

, Martha Argerich

Martha Argerich

Martha Argerich is an Argentine pianist.-Early life:Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three...

, Uto Ughi

Uto Ughi

Diodato "Uto" Ughi is an Italian violinist and conductor. He was the music director of l'Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia from 1992-1997...

, Mozarteum Camerata, Ivo Pogorelić

Ivo Pogorelic

Ivo Pogorelić is a Croatian pianist.-Early life:He was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, now Serbia, to a Croatian father and a Serbian mother...

, Andras Schiff

András Schiff

András Schiff is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist, who has won a number of awards including the Grammy and made numerous recordings.- Biography :...

, Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...

, F. P. Zimmermann, François Thiollier, Paul Badura-Skoda

Paul Badura-Skoda

Paul Badura-Skoda is an Austrian pianist.He won first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he performed with distinguished conductors like Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan...

, the King's Singers

King's Singers

The King's Singers is a British a cappella vocal ensemble who celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2008. Their name recalls King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars in 1968. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1970s and early 1980s...

, Rudolf Buchbinder

Rudolf Buchbinder

Rudolf Buchbinder is an Austrian classical pianist.-Biography:Buchbinder studied with Bruno Seidlhofer at the Vienna Academy of Music. In 1965 he made a tour of North and South America. In 1966 he won a special prize awarded at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition...

, Cyprien Katsaris

Cyprien Katsaris

Cyprien Katsaris is a French-Cypriot pianist, teacher and composer. He was born on 5 May 1951, in Marseilles, France.-Biography:Katsaris first began to play the piano when he was four, in Cameroon where he grew up...

, Joseph Silverstein

Joseph Silverstein

Joseph Silverstein is an American violinist and conductor.As a youth, Silverstein studied with his father, Bernard Silverstein, who was a public school music teacher...

, Pietro De Maria, Viktoria Mullova

Viktoria Mullova

Viktoria Yurievna Mullova is a Russian violinist. She is best known for her performances and recordings of a number of violin concerti, compositions by J.S. Bach, and her innovative interpretations of popular and jazz compositions by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, The Beatles, and...

, Ulf Hoelscher

Ulf Hoelscher

Ulf Hoelscher is a violinist born in Germany in 1943. Soloist with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Symphoniker, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra...

, David Geringas

David Geringas

David Geringas is a world-renowned cellist and conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition...

, Arnulf von Arnim

Arnulf von Arnim

Arnulf von Arnim is a German classical pianist and teacher.Von Arnim studied in Germany and France and attended classes by Claudio Arrau and Wilhelm Kempff. He is the winner of several prizes - Viotti , Busoni . He has recorded concertos and sonatas by Schubert, Schumann, Liszt and others...

, Timothy Park, Monika Leskovar, Boris Andrianov, Salvatore Accardo

Salvatore Accardo

Salvatore Accardo is an Italian violin virtuoso and conductor.He is highly regarded for his interpretations of Paganini, J. S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, contemporary works, chamber music, and opera conducting....

, Fazil Say

Fazil Say

Fazıl Say , is a Turkish pianist and composer born in Ankara, Turkey.-Biography:Born in 1970 in Ankara, Turkey, Fazıl Say started playing the piano at the age of four. He continued his music training in Ankara State Conservatory as a student of Special Status for Highly Talented Children and...

, and Hyun-Sun Kim.

The square before the Corallini Church in Cervo

Cervo

Cervo is a small, ancient town and comune, built on top of a hill along the Italian Riviera in the province of Imperia, 1,200 inhabitants.-Overview:Originally, it was, in Roman times, a mansion along the Via Julia Augusta...

 has had the honour of hosting performances by all of them.

A smug albeit straightforward description of the qualities of this festival, from the charming square

Town square

A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, and town green.Most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets,...

 where it is held to the medieval architecture

Medieval architecture

Medieval architecture is a term used to represent various forms of architecture common in Medieval Europe.-Characteristics:-Religious architecture:...

ennobling the field of vision, is thus inadequate, for each fabulous stone in this place has been exalted and made immortal by the passage of these stars of classical music.