This article is about the Music of Lombardy outside of the city and province of Milan. For that, see the Music of Milan

Music of Milan

The music of Milan has ancient roots. The Ambrosian chants are among the first codified music in Western culture, which fact led to the later development of our concept of scales, for example...

.

• Bergamo
  Bergamo
  Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
  
  : the birthplace of Gaetano Donizetti
  Gaetano Donizetti
  Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
  
  ; thus, there is the Teatro Donizetti and the Donizetti Musical Institute, housing a museum dedicated to the life and work of the composer. The city is also the home of the Benvenuto Terzi Guitar Association and a Society for Ancient Music. There is an annual jazz festival in the nearby town of Clusone.

• Brescia
  Brescia
  Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
  
  : the site of the spectacular Teatro Grande, built in 1709; Brescia also hosts the famous Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli International Piano Competition, named for the pianist, born in the city. The Luca Marenzio music conservatory is also located here.

• Como
  Como
  Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
  
  : the Teatro Sociale in the city of Como is home to the Lyric Concert Association as well as an opera series entitled Opera...domani (Opera...tomorrow).The city is also an important new venue for the presentation of electronic music.

• Cremona
  Cremona
  Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
  
  : the city is most famously associated with the craft of violin making and illustrious practitioners of that trade, such as the Amati Family, Guarneri Family and Stradivarius
  Stradivarius
  The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...
  
  . The city is still an active site for aspiring craftsmen and hosts the Stradivarius Scuola internazionale di liuteria, as well as various associations dedicated to the promotion of violin making. Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
  
   was born in Cremona and was a student of Marc'Antonio Ingegneri.

• Lecco
  Lecco
  Lecco is a town of c. 47,760 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan, the capital of the province of Lecco. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como...
  
  : the Harmonia Gentium association promotes significant concerts of scared music on the premises of the Basilica of San Nicolò. The main theater in the city is the Teatro della Società.

• Lodi: the city's claim to musical fame is that a 14-year-old Mozart wrote his first string quartet here. The Teatro delle Vigne is the main venue for music and is on the premises of the ancient monastery of San Giovanni e Ognisanti alle Vigne. It hosts a musical archive and a series of autumn concerts.

• Mantova: the city was home to illustrious names in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the early days opera. The prominent member of the Florentine Camerata
  Florentine Camerata
  The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama...
  
   lived here, as did Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
  
  , whose opera Orfeo, often cited as the "first opera" was composed for the Timidi music academy. The Teatro Accademica goes back to the 1760s when Mantoa was still part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was built at the behest of the Emperess Maria Theresa
  Maria Theresa of Austria
  Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
  
   and remembered as the site where child prodigy Mozart displayed his youthful musical prowess in a series of recitals. Mantova is the site of the Lucio Campinai music conservatory, home to the Mantova Chamber Orchestra.

• Pavia
  Pavia
  Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
  
  : the Teatro Fraschini was opened in 1773, later went through a period when it served as a barracks for the Austrian army, and was later restored to its historic splendour. Currently it is the home venue of the Pavia Chamber Ensemble.

• Sondrio
  Sondrio
  Sondrio is an Italian town and comune located in the heart of the Valtellina. Sondrio counts approximately 22,000 inhabitants and it is the administrative centre for the Lombard Province of Sondrio.- History :...
  
  : the Villa Quadrio serves as the site for chamber concerts (in the absence of a functioning public theater). The Torelli auditorium hosts frequent concerts of folk choral music by the CAI Choir of Sandrio.

• Varese
  Varese
  Varese is a town and comune in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 55 km north of Milan.It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or urban part of the city is called Varesotto.- Geography :...
  
  : Venues include the Palazzo Estense, the Villa Cagnola, and the Civic Music Highschool. In nearby Busto Arsizio, there is a permanent chamber music ensemble.

External links

• Brescia music conservatory
• Como music conservatory
• Mantova music conservatory
• Concerts today in Lombardy
• Harmonia Gentium Society in Lecco
• Stradivarius International School of Violin Making
• Arturo Benedetto Michelangeli Piano Competition
• highSCORE Contemporary Music Festival Concerts are held in historical Pavia, 35 km south of Milan. Mid-July.