THE ALTA PUSTERIA AND THE ORIGIN OF THE “FESTIVAL PROJECT”

That is, when the homeland of alpine sport is transformed into one of the most fascinating choral stages in the world (but only in June...)

The festival project has its origin in the summer 1997 by an intuition of Stefano Gentili, choir director and passionate visitor to Lake Braies, in South Tyrol region (Northern Italy).

The idea was to create an event that took as example the great international choral festivals, but with a substantial difference: on contrary to what happens in most festivals, the event would not have taken place exclusively in a single city but in a whole valley, a fairytale place where the choristers would have felt immersed in a natural and unique-in-the world landscape, the Alta Val Pusteria together with the Dolomites.

The project was welcomed with enthusiasm: the center of the event immediately became the town of San Candido that, together with the cooperation of the nearby towns of Sesto, Dobbiaco, Villabassa, Braies and under the supervision of Stefano Gentili, organized the first edition in the Summer of the following year.
It’s July 1st 1998: the Alta Pusteria Festival was born, and its name derives just from that part of the valley, the highest, where the five towns that first hosted the concerts are located.

Stefano Gentili

Creator and director of the Festival since its first edition, Stefano Gentili (Roman by birth, South Tyrolean by adoption ...) graduated in Composition, Conducting, Choral Music and Choir Conducting at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. His entry into the world of chorality occurs first as a chorister; then, he begins to direct Roman choral ensembles with which he has been participating in many Italian and international concerts and festivals.