Francesco Lotoro at the Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion

On March 5, 2019, Maestro Francesco Lotoro will be a guest at the annual conference of the European Academy of Religion , the 2019 edition of which is dedicated to "Faith and Religious Freedom, Between Music and Concentration Camps" and will be held at the Teatro San Leonardo in Bologna . On this occasion, Francesco Lotoro will present the paper "The Search for Lost Music. Prolegomena to Concentration Camp Musical Literature." The program also includes a screening of the documentary film "Maestro," directed by Franco-Argentine director Alexandre Valenti and distributed by Instituto Luce Cinecittà, dedicated to Lotoro's thirty-year research around the world; an international co-production in which the Apulian production company Intergea, led by Donatella Altieri and Dario Di Mella, also participated.

The Bologna meeting aims to explore the relationship between music, anthropology, philosophy, law, and religion, starting with the musical phenomenology of concentration camps . Concentration camp music played an important role in the lives of deportees: music, even for non-believers, allowed the spirit to be uplifted. Maestro Lotoro's meticulous research has allowed the melodies created by prisoners to be revived in a context of captivity. The musicians composed their works as an irrepressible hymn to life, capable of transcending their tragic deaths, using music as a tool for redemption, as a space for freedom, including religious freedom.