Filippo Gorini's Sonata for 7 Cities project

Colin Clarke

25 Jan 2025 • 2 min read

“The idea is simple: instead of constantly travelling from one concert venue to another, I want to focus on each city for a full month and offer as much as I can to the local community - including people who, for various reasons, are unable to visit concert halls - with the aim of leaving a deeper impression than would be possible with a single performance." Filippo Gorini

In 2025, his 30th birthday year, Italian pianist Filippo Gorini launches his enterprising Sonata for 7 Cities project with a month-long residency in Vienna starting on 10 February. The Austrian capital is the first of seven cities he will visit over the next two years - including Cape Town, Hong Kong, Portland and Milan – where he will initiate a programme of philanthropic activity in the community, anchored by chamber and symphony concerts of classical repertoire including the premiere of a new sonata he has commissioned for each city.

At the heart of the Viennese programme is the Wiener Konzerthaus where Gorini will give two concerts: a recital on 26 February featuring the world premiere of a piano sonata by the Italian composer, Stefano Gervasoni, alongside sonatas by Schubert and Beethoven and a concert on 9 March at which he will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 2 with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and conductor Jan Willem de Vriend.

Around these keystone events Gorini has initiated a busy schedule of free masterclasses and community projects in schools, hospitals, a retirement home, hospice, homeless shelter and refugee centre with a view to creating long term partnerships as well as a blueprint for future programmes in other cities. “The inspiration comes from the music itself” says Gorini, “Over the last few years, I have already had experiences of this kind, and they moved me deeply."

Gorini has also partnered with Movies Move Us, a non-profit production and distribution company that makes films for social impact. Filmmaker Ruggero Romano will document the entire project in all seven cities and present audio and visual material throughout, across a wide range of digital media platforms to reach an even wider global audience.

In addition to his 2020 BBT Award, which supported his major project Bach: The Art of Fugue Explored, Gorini was given the Franco Buitoni Award in 2023 for Sonata for 7 Cities in recognition of his visionary and generous approach to sharing the joy and great benefits of music with a wider global community.

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