On Sunday, March 23rd, 2025 at 5pm in the Zubin Mehta Hall, Afanasy Chupin and Antonino Siringo on the podium at the head of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana and the Orchestra dei Ragazzi respectively.

The programme includes music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Igor Stravinskij and Sergei Prokof'ev.

Fondazione CR Firenze has made available to the students of the Fiesole Music School 500 free tickets with the aim of helping the growth of new audience and at the same time ensure a high participation of students 

Florence, March 21st 2025 - Sunday, March 23rd 2025 at 5pm the lights will be on the Zubin Mehta Hall for the concert with the protagonists of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana - which has just celebrated 40 years of activity with the performance, Last summer, right in Sala Mehta - and the Orchestra dei Ragazzi, two important realities of the Fiesole Music School .

On the podium, respectively at the head of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana and the Orchestra dei Ragazzi the maestri Afanasy Chupin, on his debut at Maggio, and Antonino Siringo, returning a few months after the New Year’s concert last January 1st.

The symphonic afternoon starts with the performance of the overture from Fidelio - the only operatic masterpiece by Ludwig van Beethoven - performed in the arrangement of Merle J. Isaac by the Orchestra dei Ragazzi with Antonino Siringo at their head.

With the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana and Afanasy Chupin on the podium, the concert continues with the performance of Petruška, Burlesque in 4 scenes for large orchestra signed by Igor Stravinskij and Suite no. 2 op. 64 from the famous Romeo and Juliet by Sergeij Prokof'ev.

Afanasy Chupin started playing the violin at the age of 3 and performing with a symphonic orchestra when he was just 5. In 2002, with the support of the Lions Club, he performed his first solo concerts in Europe. In 2004, after winning some international competitions, he was invited by Teodor Currentzis to join the new ensemble musicAeterna as first violin,

Between 2004 and 2006 and between 2011 and 2022 he was a guest at prestigious festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele, the Aix-en-Provence Festival and the Lucerne Festival. As an assistant conductor and bandmate, he took part in opera productions of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and productions by, among others, Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci and Peter Sellars. Since 2022 Chupin has been based in Paris and is often the first violin guest of prestigious ensembles such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and the Opera Liceu. His experience includes collaborations with many musicians including Cecilia Bartoli, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Alexander Melnikov, Andras Schiff, Anna Prohaska and Nicolas Altstaedt.

Antonino Siringo graduated at the Conservatory of Florence.

He completed his training with the courses of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in Fiesole, the lessons of Joaquín Achúcarro at the Accademia Chigiana and the seminars of Siena Jazz with Stefano Battaglia, Franco D'Andrea and Bruno Tommaso. With the OGI’s Contemporary Ensemble he takes part in the concerts of Musica&Cultura while with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai collaborates to the recording of works by Sciarrino and Solbiati and many productions under the guidance of famous conductors such as Lawrence Foster, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Myung-Whun Chung and Gianandrea Noseda.

Speaking on the initiative for the 500 free tickets made available to students of the Fiesole Music School, the General Director of Fondazione CR Firenze Gabriele Gori commented: “The CR Florence Foundation supports the School of Music in Fiesole since 2000 because we believe it is important to support the musical education of young people. This concert offers the musicians of the Orchestra Giovanile the opportunity to have an experience of professional growth of excellence thanks to the collaboration with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Two realities that we believe is fundamental dialogue in a mutual exchange of stimuli in the territory. We have made free tickets available for the children of the school with the intention of fostering this link by bringing the theatre closer to the younger generation”.

Orchestra Giovanile Italiana

Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, designed by Piero Farulli in the Music School in Fiesole, contributes since 1984 in a decisive way to the musical life of the country with more than one thousand musicians employed permanently in European orchestras. The Orchestra, which was first performed by Riccardo Muti, has been invited to some of the most prestigious international music venues and conducted by Claudio Abbado, Roberto Abbado, Luciano Berio, Daniele Gatti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti and Giuseppe Sinopoli.In March 2014 she was invited to Salzburg for La clemenza di Tito with the vocal cast of the Mozarteum and in 2016 participated in the MiTo Festival. On 1 June 2019 he held the concert at the Quirinale for the Republic Day at the invitation of President Sergio Mattarella. From 2016 to 2020 he participated in the Chigiano conducting course of Daniele Gatti, who also conducted the OGI in the New Year’s Concert 2019 in Florence. Regular guest of numerous concert institutions, he has inaugurated several times the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, with the first performances of four works by Silvia Colasanti. Recent successes include the concert at the Young Euroclassic Festival at the Konzerthaus in Berlin (August 2022) and the tour with Martha Argerich within the Peace Orchestra Project, concluded at the Cité de la Musique in Paris (September 2023).

Orchestra dei Ragazzi

Orchestra dei Ragazzi has in its files very youthful elements. The discipline of making music together is the basis on which rests the work of this ensemble, with the aim of a proper artistic and human development. Together with the Galilei Orchestra and the Italian Youth Orchestra, every year he offers to the city of Florence his musical wish on the morning of New Year’s Eve. At the invitation of Luciano Berio he participated in 2002 to the inaugural day of the Auditorium-Parco della Musica in Rome; with Salvatore Accardo he inaugurated the 2011-2012 season of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana. The Orchestra dei Ragazzi was invited to the Musical Encounters of the William Walton Foundation (Ischia) and to the Summer Music Festival in Bardonecchia, to I Suoni delle Dolomiti and to the Youth Orchestras Festival in Murcia (Spain). In 2016 the Orchestra dei Ragazzi won the "World Orchestra Festival", organized by the Wiener Philharmoniker in the Austrian capital. Conductor - teacher is Antonino Siringo, assisted by Leonardo Matucci and Petru Horvath for the preparation of the strings and by Antonio Sicoli and Luigi Daniele Cantafio for woodwinds and percussion. The orchestra’s activity is made possible by the support of the CR Firenze Foundation.