The Citadel of Concentrationary Music Project reaches the Senate

Francesco Lotoro at Auschwitz, image from the documentary 'Maestro' by Alexandre Valenti

On the initiative of Senator Ruggiero Quarto (Five Star Movement), the presentation of the Cittadella della Musica Concentrazionaria project will take place on June 25th at 11.00 am in the Sala Koch of Palazzo Madama , seat of the Senate of the Republic (Piazza S. Luigi de ' Francesi, 9). This international hub will be built in Barletta, Puglia, in the spaces of the Ex Distillery, and will be dedicated to music written in concentration, extermination and civil and military captivity camps around the world between 1933 (the opening of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau) and 1953 (the death of Joseph Stalin and the amnesty of prisoners in the Soviet gulags). The archive, now held by the Fondazione Istituto di Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria (Institute of Concentrationary Music Literature Foundation) , established in 2014, is the fruit of 30 years of research by Apulian pianist Francesco Lotoro , president of the Foundation, which continues today, supported by careful cataloging, digitization, performance, and recording.