Musica Libera Adds Two New Events to the 70th International Contemporary Music Festival

The 70th Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea della Biennale di Venezia, under the direction of Caterina Barbieri, has announced the addition of two new events to its programme. These events, titled Musica Libera, are scheduled for 18 and 24 October and will take place in the courtyard of the Casa di reclusione femminile Venezia Giudecca, a women’s prison on the island of Giudecca in Venice.

The Musica Libera initiative is the outcome of a workshop that brought together the women of the prison, young musicians from Biennale College Musica, and their mentors. The performances will be held in the courtyard, which is centred around the historic former church and monastery of the Convertite, providing a distinctive setting for the events.

This initiative is designed to reflect a cultural programming philosophy that seeks to highlight the therapeutic power of music. It considers artistic creation not simply as something to be consumed passively, but as a possible channel for catharsis and collective transformation.

The approach of Musica Libera is in line with the festival’s theme, which is dedicated to childhood and intuition. The sessions were organised according to a principle of total openness, aiming to create spaces for genuine creative freedom without the pressure to achieve predetermined results imposed from above.

The essence of Musica Libera lies in its choral nature, which is based on listening, vulnerability, expressive urgency, and co-creation, rather than on a fixed compositional method. This collective spirit is central to the project and shapes the performances.

Musica Libera is presented alongside Rinasco con l’Arte, another initiative promoted by the Biennale di Venezia that aims to strengthen relationships with penitentiary institutions. The project is supported by the Casa di reclusione femminile Venezia Giudecca, the Department of Penitentiary Administration, and the regional penitentiary administration for Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Trentino-Alto Adige.

Those wishing to attend one of the two Musica Libera events at the 70th Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea will need to register online on the Biennale di Venezia website. The specific procedures for registration will be communicated at a later date.