Lake Como Festival / villa concert season (Event)

A summer of music in the villas of the Lario

The concert season on Lake Como unfolds across several festivals, each with its own calendar, venues and format. The most solidly documented is the Musica sull'Acqua Festival, reported consistently by the Lake Como Tourism portal and Lecconotizie; on the other events — from the LakeComo Music Festival to the Tremezzina Music Festival, and the Bellagio and Lake Como Festival — the available information rests on single sources and should be treated with the caution that entails.

Musica sull'Acqua, 22nd edition

Here the accounts converge. According to Lake Como Tourism and Lecconotizie, the Musica sull'Acqua Festival reaches its 22nd edition and will run from 3 to 26 July 2026, with 17 events spread across Colico, Como, Gravedona and Pianello del Lario. This edition's theme is "Civiltà" ("Civilization"), and the programme, both outlets report, is not limited to concerts: special events, musical walks, talks, workshops and participatory activities are also planned.

Again according to both sources, among the leading figures are Mario Brunello, Sara Mingardo, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Diego Matheuz, Gabriele Carcano, Antonio Valentino and the Kandinsky Quartet, alongside young musicians from the MACH – Music Art Creativity Hub project. Lecconotizie also adds Tomoko Akasaka, Diemut Poppen, Gabriele Geminiani and Roberto Armocida to the list, names not mentioned by the other source.

Two thematic threads are indicated by both: a tribute to Ottorino Respighi on the 90th anniversary of his death, and a strand dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven ahead of the bicentenary of his death — which falls in 2027, Lecconotizie notes — focused on his string quartets. Among the novelties, both outlets highlight an opening toward dance with the participation of choreographer Ambra Senatore, involved, according to Lecconotizie, in two performances on 19 and 21 July.

From the Abbey of Piona to the Lake Arena

The opening, report both Lake Como Tourism and Lecconotizie, is set for 3 July at the Abbey of Piona, in Colico, with a programme devoted to Respighi paired with works by Brahms. Details of the concert, however, come only from Lecconotizie, which lists Respighi's Cinque pezzi for violin and piano and his Piano Quintet in F minor alongside Brahms's Quintet Op. 34, performed by Francesco Senese and Manuele Kastl on violin, Tomoko Akasaka on viola, Gabriele Geminiani on cello and Antonio Valentino on piano.

The closing event, on which both sources agree, is scheduled for 26 July at the Lake Arena, the stage set up on the water in the Bay of Piona: the MACH Orchestra, conducted by Diego Matheuz, will perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 and Respighi's suite Gli uccelli (The Birds). According to Lecconotizie, it begins at 8:30 pm, with the orchestra made up of 50 young musicians led by the Venezuelan conductor.

The rest of the calendar is reconstructed by Lecconotizie alone, which notes among other things a symphonic concert at the Basilica of San Fedele in Como on 25 July, an evening dedicated to Mieczysław Weinberg with Mario Brunello and the MACH Choir conducted by Giorgio Senese, the talk "Il Quartetto, forma di civiltà" ("The Quartet, a Form of Civilization") on 15 July at the Residenza Silvestri in Colico with Guido Barbieri and Velasco Vitali, the "Concerto Promenade" on 18 July in the park of Villa Osio with the Kandinsky Quartet and Roberto Armocida, and the dawn event "A Colazione con..." ("Breakfast with...") on 19 July at the Spiaggia Selvaggia in Colico. The same outlet lists the venues — from the Abbey of Piona to Palazzo Gallio, from the churches of Gravedona to the Museo Barca Lariana — and points to Vivaticket and the festival box office, open one hour before each concert, as ticketing channels. The artistic director, again according to Lecconotizie, is Francesco Senese, who described "Civiltà" as a word "broad and alive" and stated that "fully living the essence of civilization means being ready to listen, recognizing the value of encounter and building relationships capable of generating a future."

LakeComo Music Festival

Information on the LakeComo Music Festival comes from the festival's own website and from QuiComo, without cross-checking. According to the official site, the festival is organized by the non-profit cultural association Amadeus Arte, founded in June 2006, which counts more than 100 members and brings concerts by soloists and small ensembles to villas and gardens overlooking the lake, to Como's historic center, and to villas and theaters in Brianza, with bilingual Italian-English programming and a repertoire alternating classical and new music. According to the same source, the festival received the "Straight to the Audience" award from the Italian Festival Observatory in 2014 and has collaborated, among others, with the FAI (Italian National Trust), Villa Carlotta and Villa Melzi. QuiComo places the 2025 edition as the twentieth, coinciding with the association's twenty years of activity, and describes it as a showcase for talents under 35, with most dates entrusted to pairs of musicians linked by a romantic relationship.

Tremezzina and Bellagio

The Tremezzina Music Festival is covered by the portal In Lombardia, the only source: 21st edition, organized by the cultural association Musicamorfosi, with a programme running from 4 to 7 August on the Como shore, preceded by a preview on 29 July at Villa Carlotta featuring pianist Thomas Umbaca and Catalan singer-songwriter Anna Ferrer. The same source notes the official opening on 4 August with a Gospel Night at Parco Teresio Olivelli, free admission, jazz performances at Villa Carlotta, the Italian-Japanese trio Munedaiko and the Rusty Brass, plus a backup venue at the Ossuccio auditorium in case of bad weather.

As for the Bellagio and Lake Como Festival, both Bellagiofestival.com and La Provincia Unica TV confirm the existence of the Bellagio and Lake Como Orchestra tied to the event. The calendar, however, is described only by La Provincia Unica TV: six performances over five days in Bellagio, Valmadrera, Zelbio, Torno and Perledo, from 23 to 27 July, all starting at 8:45 pm except the one in Zelbio at 5 pm, with free admission except for the Valmadrera date, which costs 5 euros. The unifying theme, according to the same source, is film scores, from "Movie Thrillers" at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni to the "Pasolini e Bach" programme in Zelbio, to the "Felliniana" in Perledo. The festival's website also announces the publication of the rules for the "Cosima Wagner" International Concert Competition and the "Aldo Finzi" National Youth Competition 2025; La Provincia Unica TV names the Trio Rinaldo, due to perform on 25 July at the Fondazione Rockefeller, as the winner of the 2025 Wagner Competition in the Chamber Music category.