events

Concerts and Masterclasses

The Contucci family has for centuries been involved in the study and diffusion of the various different arts. The matchless 1826 Conrad Graf fortepiano which graces the Sala delle Feste of  Palazzo Contucci is only the most remarkable example.  Music and painting have perhaps been the Contuccis’ best loved among the arts and this can still be seen in such current family members as Alessandro, son of Maria Vittoria Contucci, an art historian and Professor at Siena University, and Eleonora, daughter of Gian Stefano Contucci, who is an opera singer.

Eleonora Contucci is married to Carlo Cavalletti, conservatory diploma in piano, Professor of Music History at the Perugia Conservatory and founder of the music agency CAVARTISTS, which represents numerous artists well-known worldwide (www.cavartists.com).

Eleonora and Carlo organise various events in the Sala delle Feste. Solo or chamber music concerts with the fortepiano present rarely performed music (such as German lieder,  the baroque repertoire) and there are also more popular broader-based programmes with a modern piano: from opera arias to hausmusik, from French to American music and Neapolitan songs.

Their particular interest in training and teaching has seen them organise top level Masterclasses. One important example was the week with Malcolm Bilson on the Interpretation of the early 18^th-century Classical Piano Repertoire on the Fortepiano.

Concert M° Mastroprimiano M° Contucci

Lesson M° Bruno Bartoletti

Lesson M° Malcolm Bilson

Itinerary: Music, Art and Vino Nobile

The Contucci family has elaborated an unmissable tourist itinerary for those visiting Montepulciano:

-A family welcome to the historic Palazzo. Concerto (30 minutes) in the Sala delle Feste – a programme to be pre-selected from those proposed.

-Brief presentation of the frescoes (1701) painted by Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709) in the Sala delle Feste.

-A tour of the  Palazzo’s16^th-century internal courtyard.

-A tour of the monumental cellars underneath the Palazzo, amongst the oldest and most impressive in Montepulciano (www.contucci.it)

-A wine tasting of the famous Montepulciano Vino Nobile which can, on request, be accompanied by typical local foods, such as Pienza pecorino and home-produced salami.