The Course

This year, the “Settimana” will take place from July 14 to 20, with arrivals on the 13th and departures on the 21st, at the DIMA headquarters, adjacent to the prestigious Casa Petrarca.

The final concert, as is tradition, will be held in the nearby Church of San Pier Piccolo on the evening of 20 July.

Repertoire

The course is designed for all students who wish to deepen their knowledge of the most challenging medieval repertoire while developing their performance skills.

The course will focus on anonymous ballads, madrigals, and caccias of the Italian Trecento, taken from the Codices Reina, Panciatichi, Pit. 568, and Mancini. This is a unique repertoire, rarely heard and unknown, since these pieces are not associated with any composer’s name. However, their musical value is in no way inferior to that of the works we know of by more famous composers of the period: wonderful treasures to discover!

The lessons will be available for flute, vielle, voice, lute, and medieval notation, but, as always, the course is open to any instrumentalist or musician interested in this repertoire.

Teachers

Kees Boeke

Viella and flutes

Claudia Caffagni

Medieval lutes and notation

Jill Feldman

Voice

Kees Boeke

Kees Boeke is an internationally renowned artist in the field of early music, specializing in recorders and medieval vielle, both as a performer, teacher and conductor. He has recorded over eighty CDs for Teldec, Das Alte Werk, EMI, RCA, Nuova Era, Channel Classics, Arcana, Symphonia, Attacca, Erato, Philips, Stradivarius, Glossa, Mirare and for his own label, Olive Music, founded in 2001. His activity in the field of medieval music began as a member of Kees Otten's ensemble Syntagma Musicum in the 1970s and continued with the renowned ensembles Sour Cream (1972), Little Consort Amsterdam (1978) and Mala Punica (1989). In 2003 he founded the medieval ensemble Tetraktys. He regularly gives masterclasses all over the world, including Amsterdam, Leipzig, Tokyo, Seoul, Taiwan, Tel Aviv and Innsbruck. Together with Jos Haring, he is co-author of the series Olive Music Editions, which currently includes the Modena Codex, the Prague Codex, Textless & Instrumental Monophony 1180-1500, the Works of Anthonello da Caserta and the complete works of Solage. They are currently preparing the complete edition of the famous Chantilly Codex.

In 1970 Kees Boeke began teaching at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and in 1975 at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. Since 1990 he has been Professor of Flute and Early Music at the University of Music and Theatre in Zurich. From 2006 to 2014 he was Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Music at the Institute of Early Music in Trossingen (Germany).

He has also conducted seminars and masterclasses in recorder and Early Music throughout the world—including at the Deller Academy (Lacoste, France, 1972-1982), the International Courses of Early Music (Urbino, Italy, 1975-1982), and the Vancouver Early Music Festival—and was responsible as artistic director for the International Courses of Early Music of San Floriano (Polcenigo, Italy, 1983-1993). Since 1989 he has collaborated with the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, for which in 1994 he produced I Vespri (Psalms for 4 choirs, 1612) by Ludovico da Viadana.

In 1996, Kees Boeke began working as music director for the Ensemble Cantica Symphonia, with which he recorded motets by Costanzo Festa and masses by Guillaume Dufay. He has been invited as guest conductor by the vocal and instrumental group “L’Homme Armé” in Florence and by the Ensemble Ars Nova Copenhagen, giving concerts in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark. Over the years, he has collaborated with the Hilliard Ensemble on concerts and recordings of music by Heinrich Isaac, Orlando di Lasso, and Philippe de Monte.

Since 2001 he has collaborated closely with Prof. Laurenz Lütteken (University of Zurich) on projects and seminars in the field of medieval, Renaissance and baroque music.

He has lived in Tuscany since 1980 and is a producer of extra virgin olive oil.

Claudia Caffagni

Raised in a musically fertile environment, Claudia Caffagni began studying the lute under the guidance of her father Mirco at the age of thirteen. She then studied with Federico Marincola and Jacob Lindberg, with whom she obtained a diploma in “lute performance” at the Royal College of Music in London in 1989; she later studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Hopkinson Smith, specializing in German Baroque music. In parallel with her study of the instrument, she also studied the necessary sources, notation and treatises, later focusing her interest on medieval repertoire.

In 1986 she was among the founders of the medieval music ensemble laReverdie, one of the most important groups at an international level, dedicated to the study and interpretation of medieval repertoire. With the ensemble laReverdie she carries out an intense concert activity, participating in the most prestigious festivals throughout Europe. Since 1993 she has recorded regularly for the ARCANA label, in co-production with WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk), with 17 recordings that have received numerous awards (including the Diapason d’Or de l’Année 1993, Finalist 2010 and Finalist 2013 at the Midem Classical Awards, Early Music).

Alongside her intense musical activity, in 1994 she graduated in Architecture with top marks and honors from IUAV with a thesis entitled “Temperament in music and architecture: the Schola Riccatiana”. On the same subject, her speech at the conference dedicated to Giordano Riccati held at the Cini Foundation in Venice in 2010 was published by Leo S. Olschki.

She recently published the article “Homage to Johannes Ciconia. Marce Marcum imitaris: a model for Ciconia’s motets” for the journal Marcinum, II/2012. The article “A new edition of the 14th-century Italian motet Marce, Marcum imitaris” is in preparation for the Journal of the Alamire Foundation.

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the ensemble laReverdie (1986-2006), in view of the performance of the Missa Sancti Jacobi by Guillaume Du Fay, she edited a completely revised and corrected transcription of this work, from the Q15 codex (Bologna, International Museum and Library of Music) which, presented in 2014 at the “Luigi Gaiatto” prize promoted by the Ugo and Olga Levi Foundation, received a special mention.

She has taught “Performance Practice of Early Music” at the Conservatory of Trieste from 2001 to 2006 and regularly holds international courses and seminars in Italy (Urbino, Parma, etc.) and abroad. Since 2005 she has been a professor of Medieval Music at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan. From 2007 to 2015, she taught Mittelalterlaute and Früe Notationskunde at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen (University of Music Trossingen/Institute of Early Music).

Jill Feldman

Jill Feldman has taught at the Zurich University of the Arts and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and has regularly given masterclasses and workshops for the Associazione Amici della Musica in Florence, the Academia de Musica Antiga de Lisboa, the International Seminar of Ancient Music—Tel Aviv, the IYAP in Antwerp, the Cursos Internacionales Manuel de Falla in Granada, in Japan, and in South Korea.

She studied singing with Lillian Loran in San Francisco and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She then specialized in early music in Basel under the guidance of Andrea Von Ramm.

She subsequently made her debut in three major productions: Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Berkeley, California, Cavalli’s Erismena at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, and Hildegard von Bingen’s acclaimed Ordo Virtutum with the medieval group Sequentia.

From 1981 to 1986, Jill Feldman sang with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. With this group she recorded twelve discs, including Marc Antoine Charpentier’s opera Médée in the title role, which received the Gramophone magazine prize (London), the Charles Cros prize (Paris), and the Grand Prix du Disque (Montreux) in 1985. Since then, she has taken part in more than fifty recordings.

In 2003, she founded with her husband, Kees Boeke, the recording company Olive Music, for which they have recorded four medieval programmes: Trecento (from Machaut to Ciconia), Chansons by Guillaume Dufay, O tu cara sciença mie musica (Codice Squarcialupi) and Codice Chantilly; Consort Songs by William Byrd and contemporaries, Les Leçons de Ténèbres by Charpentier, Delalande, Couperin and “Songs” by Charles Ives.

Jill Feldman has been invited by conductors such as Frans Brüggen (Haydn's Die Schöpfung), Andrew Parrot (Handel's Carmelite Vespers), Jordi Savall (Delalande Motets), Nicholas McGegan (Handel's cantata Tirsi Clori e Fileno and the oratorio Susanna) and René Jacobs (Orontea by Cesti and Xerse by Cavalli). She performed the role of Armida in Lo castello liberato by Stradella at the Teatro di Modena and the role of Vita in La Vita Humana by Marrazzoli at the Glasgow Tramway.

In the field of contemporary music, she collaborates with the Duix ensemble, with which she has held concerts, among other places, at Villa Medici in Rome, at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, and at the Ysbreker Festival in Amsterdam.

Program

Sunday July 13

Arrival	Sunday afternoon, 13 July
18:30	First meeting between students and teachers followed by general instructions for the course

Monday July 14

9:00	Kees Boeke Group Lesson: How to approach a 14th Century Song
9:45	Group lesson Claudia Caffagni: 14th century notation 1
10:40	Individual coaching (singers and instrumentalists)
13:15	Lunch break
14:15	14th Century Notation 2 (Advanced Level)
15:00–19:00	Ensembles 1, 2, 3

Tuesday July 15

9:00	Kees Boeke Group Lesson: How to approach a 14th Century Song
9:45	Group lesson Claudia Caffagni: 14th century notation 1
10:40	Individual coaching (singers and instrumentalists)
13:15	Lunch break
14:15	14th Century Notation 2 (Advanced Level)
15:00–19:00	Ensembles 4, 5, 6

Wednesday July 16

9:00	Kees Boeke Group Lesson: How to approach a 14th Century Song
9:45	Group lesson Claudia Caffagni: 14th century notation 1
10:40	Individual coaching (singers and instrumentalists)
13:15	Lunch break
14:15	14th Century Notation 2 (Advanced Level)
15:00–19:00	Ensembles 1, 2, 3

Thursday July 17

Morning	Esteemed art historian Machtelt Brüggen Israels will be our exclusive guide for a city tour of Arezzo, during which students will have the opportunity to discover the artistic treasures hidden in its churches and palaces.
14:15	14th Century Notation 2 (Advanced Level)
15:00–19:00	Ensembles 4, 5, 6

Friday July 18

9:00	Kees Boeke Group Lesson: How to approach a 14th Century Song
9:45	Group lesson Claudia Caffagni: 14th century notation 1
10:40	Individual coaching (singers and instrumentalists)
13:15	Lunch break
14:15	14th Century Notation 2 (Advanced Level)
15:00–19:00	Ensembles 1, 2, 3

Saturday July 19

9:00	Kees Boeke Group Lesson: How to approach a 14th Century Song
9:45	Group lesson Claudia Caffagni: 14th century notation 1
10:40	Individual coaching (singers and instrumentalists)
13:15	Lunch break
14:15	14th Century Notation 2 (Advanced Level)
15:00–19:00	Ensembles 4, 5, 6

Sunday July 20

11:00–13:00	Rehearsals
13:15	Lunch break
15:00–17:30	General rehearsal for final concert
18:30	Final Concert
Dopo	Collective dinner

Monday July 21

Morning

Departure

Arezzo

A city of very ancient origins, an important Etruscan and then Roman centre, seat of a Christian diocese as early as the 4th century, it was occupied by the Lombards at the end of the 6th century and strongly influenced by this population.

Arezzo nel Medioevo divenne un potente libero comune, spesso guidato dai suoi vescovi, conti del Sacro Romano Impero. Fu in conflitto con Siena, ma soprattutto con Firenze, che la sottomise nel 1384. Da questa data, salvo due grandi ribellioni, nel 1502 e nel 1529-1530, la sua storia si fonde con quella della città dominante e poi con quella della Toscana.

The current historic center still retains all the charm of its illustrious past and its main monuments are enriched by the works of great medieval and Renaissance artists, such as Cimabue, Piero della Francesca, Andrea della Robbia and Giorgio Vasari.

Arezzo, birthplace of the great poet Francesco Petrarca, has also achieved international fame for being the natural stage of a famous film: the most evocative corners of its monumental area were the film set of some scenes from the film “Life is Beautiful” by Roberto Benigni, winner of 3 Oscars in 1999. Arezzo is modern and industrious, a city of art of yesterday and today, where the brilliant creativity of Arezzo is expressed in the ancient flavors of the cuisine, in quality craftsmanship, in the tourist vocation, and in the goldsmith experience that has made it famous throughout the world as the city of gold. Arezzo is the city of the Giostra del Saracino and of the Antiques Fair; it is the birthplace of Guido d’Arezzo and of the International Polyphonic Competition of the same name. Arezzo, a gem set among the rolling Tuscan hills and fertile cradle of illustrious figures, as the famous poet Giosuè Carducci stated, “Arezzo alone would be enough for the glory of Italy.”

Events

FIERA DELL’ANTIQUARIATO

ANTIQUES FAIR The Arezzo Antiques Fair, held every first Saturday and Sunday of the month, is the largest in Italy, with over 500 exhibitors. The first to take place in Italy, in 1968, it is the best known and most popular. Here, visitors can take a dip into the past, savoring the pleasure of discovery, immersing themselves in an impressive variety of objects from different eras. Each edition of the Fair has an average of twenty thousand visitors: collectors, antique dealers, tourists or simply curious people indulge in a stimulating outdoor stroll among the stalls that exhibit in the most characteristic places of the historic center, having at their disposal the most disparate antiques: furniture, old books, paintings, ceramics, artistic hardware, Art Nouveau stained glass, old scientific and professional instruments, watches, silver, jewelry, lace and embroidery, collections of various kinds, art deco objects, modern antiques. Anyone who has visited it, Italian or foreign, takes home an unforgettable memory of our city: it is truly an event not to be missed!

GIOSTRA DEL SARACINO

The Giostra del Saracino is the most exciting and characteristic folkloristic show in Arezzo. Representatives of the city districts take part in the Giostra, wearing magnificent medieval costumes. The four districts are distinguished by their different colours: Porta Crocifera red-green; Porta Sant’Andrea white-green; Porta Santo Spirito yellow-blue; Porta del Foro yellow-crimson. After an evocative parade through the streets and squares of the city, in a colourful procession of musicians, flag-wavers, horses, knights and damsels, everyone gathers in the crowded Piazza Grande to watch the spectacular performance of the Flag-wavers Group, which precedes the start of the Giostra itself. From the back of the square, while the drums roll, the jouster urges his horse into a gallop and, with his lance in rest, hits the ‘Saracino’, the silhouette of the buratto armed with a flail, on which the score obtained is written. The result is commented by the crowd with an unstoppable explosion of enthusiasm or dissent, depending on the contrada to which the jouster belongs. After the eight established careers, a ranking is drawn up and the winning contrada is awarded a golden lance.

Fonte: www.arezzoturismo.it

Information

Information

The course is limited to 24 students. In the event that registrations exceed the number of available places, a selection will be made based on the mandatory curriculum vitae to be attached to the registration form. You will be informed as soon as possible of the positive or negative outcome of your registration.

Fee and payment

The registration fee is €450 and includes: lessons with the teachers of the chosen courses, all group lessons and participation in the final concert. Once the application is accepted, you can proceed with registration and payment directly at Olive Music, Triodos Bank IBAN: NL75TRIO0390478784 BIC: TRIONL2U. Board and lodging are the students' responsibility. We can help you find rooms or B&Bs in the city online. A group dinner organized by the course at a fixed price of around €25 is planned after the final concert.

The bank transfer, with the reason “Settimana Musicale del Trecento”, must be made to the following account:
Olive Music v.o.f. Triodos Bank, Netherlands IBAN NL75 TRIO 0390478784 BIC TRIONL2U
or via PayPal

Applications

Applications must be submitted no later than June 15, 2025, by completing the online form. Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, so don’t hesitate to register! The application must include the student’s CV in PDF format: you can upload your CV immediately after submitting your application or by clicking on this link.

In the application, please indicate any references (name, surname) to other people in the group (3 or more people) in order to obtain a reduction on the fee. The application will be considered completed and therefore definitively accepted FOLLOWING THE RECEIPT OF PAYMENT of the total fee, € 450, by bank transfer with reason “Settimana Musicale del Trecento” to the current account indicated below: Olive Music v.o.f. Triodos Bank, Netherlands, IBAN NL75 TRIO 0390478784, BIC TRIONL2U, or via PayPal.

Confirmation and cancellations

Applications must be received no later than June 15, 2025. Confirmation of acceptance or rejection of the application will be communicated as soon as possible. In the event of a negative response, the fee paid will be refunded in full, or, upon request, the application will be placed on a waiting list. In the event of withdrawal by June 20, the registration fee paid will be refunded minus €50 for administrative costs; after this deadline, it will no longer be possible to obtain a refund.

How to arrive

Arezzo is located in Tuscany, on the border with Marche and Umbria, well connected to the main airports of the region (Pisa and Florence) and to the neighboring regions of Perugia and Bologna.

By car: Arezzo can be reached by car from Florence or Rome via the Autostrada del Sole (Milan-Naples), exiting at the Arezzo toll booth. From here it is about 10 km to reach the city center: follow the signs for Parcheggio Pietri. Reach Casa Petrarca from Parcheggio Pietri: https://goo.gl/maps/W7kTRDQP59PmTwdD7

By train: Arezzo train station is located along the Bologna-Rome railway line. The station is served by daily Intercity train connections to Florence, Rome and the rest of Italy. TFT (Trasporto Ferroviario Toscano) of the LFI group manages the railway lines to Arezzo-Sinalunga and Arezzo-Stia. How to reach Casa Petrarca from the station: https://goo.gl/maps/C47rLm6Wgss

By bus: Arezzo is connected to Valdichiana, Valtiberina, Pratomagno, Casentino and Valdarno by a network of connections managed by ATAM and Autolinee Toscane (AT).
From Amerigo Vespucci Airport in Florence-Peretola by car: take the A1 motorway towards Rome, exiting at Arezzo; by train: tram or taxi from the airport to Santa Maria Novella station. From there, take the train to Arezzo, Chiusi, Foligno or Rome (excluding EuroStar).
From Pisa Galileo Galilei Airport, by car: take the A11 motorway to Florence and then the A1 to Arezzo; by train: at Pisa Airport station, take the shuttle to Pisa Centrale station. From there, take the train to Florence Santa Maria Novella and from there, take trains to Arezzo, Chiusi, Foligno or Rome (excluding EuroStar). Road distances from Arezzo: Cortona 29 km; Florence 74 km; Siena 89 km; Perugia 92 km; Rome 218 km.