Imagine a place where students study and perform side-by-side with legendary musicians like Mischa Maisky, Paul Badura-Skoda, Viktor Tretiakov, Sergey Khachatryan, Mikhail Voskresensky, Dora Schwarzberg, Nikolai Lugansky, Zakhar Bron, Alexander Rudin, Natalia Gutman, Abbey Simon and many others, all in the breathtaking beauty of the Italian Alps, and you have imagined the Semper Music Internationa
l Festival (named Schlern Festival before 2016). The Semper Music Festival, hosted by the town of Völs am Schlern, Italy, is unique not only because of its spectacular location, but also because it offers a three-week intense schedule of private lessons, chamber music coachings, and master classes combined with over 30 professional and student concerts presented in the historic halls and castles of the South Tyrol. This exceptional experience gives participants an opportunity to significantly raise their professional level and further their careers through networking with established artists, along with gaining valuable performance experience. Free Italian and German language classes offered to help you improve your language skills. Additionally, the Semper Music Festival presents an International Competition to its participants in the areas of violin, viola, cello, voice, and piano with prizes of up to $1000. The festival program consists not only of intensive training, practicing and performing, but also this year includes exciting excursions Venice and Vicenza, where historical places are reminiscent of Galileo Galilei, Giotto, Verdi, Stradivari, Vivaldi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tizian, Giorgone, Palladio, and others. The Semper Music Festival is the kind of experience that leaves deep impressions upon its participants. Listening to live performances of outstanding artists and interacting with them daily creates an environment where ideas, performance and nature unite to bring renewed meaning and understanding to participants’ musical lives. It can also be the beginning of something unimagined as people from around the world meet, form friendships, and make music, as evidenced by four young talented musicians who once met here, worked together, formed a common bond, and became the Völs String Quartet, and are now touring the United States. And, you can’t visit such an idyllic town without taking time to enjoy all it has to offer! Völs am Schlern recreation opportunities range from simply relaxing or walking in Voels and surrounding areas and absorbing the mountain beauty, to playing one of the most stunning 18-hole golf courses in Northern Italy, to climbing or riding the funicular railway to the hikers’ retreat atop of the magnificent Schlern mountain. And, if you like, you can swim in the nearby lake or relax in a sauna, all followed perhaps by a meal of Italian or Tyrolean fine cuisine at one of the local restaurants. In a word, The Semper Music International Festival is a unique and transforming experience for its participants. Seldom in the world will you find quite such great artistry blended so perfectly with such great natural beauty.
