Address: Piazza del Suffragio, 6, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy

The Church of Suffragio is among the few churches built in Lucca ex novo during the seventeenth century. Erected in 1634, on the site of the burial of the dead of the plague of 1630. The Suffrage Auditorium belongs now to the Conservatory "Luigi Boccherini", founded in 1842.

Text and photos: boccherini.it

Address: Via S. Paolino, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy

Dedicated to Saints Paulinus and Donatus, it was built in the first half of the 16th century by Baccio da Montelupo on the ruins of the nearby church of St. Donatus and St. George, in whose crypt the remains of St. Polynus were rediscovered. Dedicated to the first bishop of Lucca, this renowned church houses many valuable works such as paintings, wood carvings and frescoes. On the road outside the church, three meters deep, the Roman floor of the decumanus was found.

Photos: ArchivioParrocchiaCentroStoricoLucca

Address: Piazza S. Pietro Somaldi, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy

The church, which dates back to the 8th century, was founded in 763 by a bishop Sumualdo (or Summal, hence the name); it was then rebuilt at the end of the 12th century and completed in the upper part of the façade by a blind arcade in the second half of the 13th century. Apart from two panels, the only survivors of the 15th century endowment, the furnishings consist of 17th century paintings and valuable 19th century works.

Photos: INTERKULTUR

Address: Piazza S.Francesco, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy

The church, built in brick with a single hall and trussed roof, was completed by 1430 with the addition of three presbytery chapels. For the facade, which shows two sepulchral arches on either side of the portal, a white limestone cladding was adopted, which remained unfinished and was only completed at the end of the 1920s (the facade was in fact solemnly inaugurated on 6 November 1927).

In 2003, the Franciscan friars left the convent and the entire complex was purchased by the municipality of Lucca and, in 2010, was then taken over by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca.

Text: Wikipedia
Photos: ArchivioFotograficoFondazioneCRL

Jean Kleeb (*1964) is a German-Brazilian composer, world pianist, clavichordist and choir director. He studied composition and school music at the University of São Paulo (Brazil). His compositions form a bridge between world music, classical music, modern music and traditional cultures from Latin America, Africa and Asia. His choral works include Missa Brasileira, Missa Aurea Luce, Luther Oratorio, World Magnificat, Cantata Amazonas for Future, as well as numerous piano cycles combining jazz, world and classical music, including Classic goes Jazz and Beethoven around the world. He is the editor of 21 music booklets with the publishers Bärenreiter and Helbling. In 2021 he was a fellow of the German Music Council with the project Schubert goes Jobim and of the Hessian Cultural Foundation with the project Rhythmus Mundi.

Several CDs for piano and clavichord solo, chamber ensembles and choir, published in Germany, England and Japan. He performs regularly in Germany, Austria, Spain, Brazil and the USA. Jean Kleeb conducts several ensembles, including the choir Joy of Life of the Kurhessische Kantorei Marburg, the chamber choir Klangfarben Gießen and the choir Vozes do Brasil (Cologne). In 2022 he was appointed cantor in recognition of his many years of service as choirmaster and his special church music merits in the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck.

Sara Matteucci is a choral conductor and musicologist. A graduate of Choral Music and Choral Conducting and of History of Music, she is professor of Choral Singing at “Luigi Boccherini” Conservatory of Lucca. Her artistic activity has led her to work in the main Italian theatres and abroad, collaborating with renowned personalities such as Zubin Mehta, Fabio Luisi, Daniel Oren, Yu Feng, Hirofumi Yoshida, and taking part in more than 250 opera productions and numerous symphonic-choral concerts, including Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Puccini’s Mass, Mahler’s Symphony n.8, Cherubini’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Rossini’s Petite Messe, among others. She is specialised in children's vocality and is official conductor of the children's choir of the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. From 1996 to 2022 he has prepared and conducted the children's voices of the "S. Cecilia" Chapel and Teatro del Giglio in Lucca and from 2010 to 2016 the children's voices and youth choir of the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. Director of the musicological magazine "Codice 602" (ed. Sillabe), she is often invited to be part of jury panels in national and international choral competitions and has numerous publications and participations as lecturer at conferences and conventions to her credit.

Anna Ungureau has a PhD in music since 2009, and since 2014 she is being the principal conductor of the renowned Romanian National Chamber Choir "Madrigal - Marin Constantin", as well as the Artistic Director of the Cantus Mundi, the Madrigal Choir's national project. Specializing in conducting with the musicians Marin Constantin and Ion Marin, she has performed with the Madrigal Choir in numerous countries in Europe and Asia. In addition to her impressive career as a conductor, Anna Ungureanu is also a trainer who inspires future generations of choir conductors in Romania. The professional experience gained by Anna Ungureanu with the founder of the Madrigal Choir and her mentor for nine years, Marin Constantin, recommends her as a disciple and continuer of the legendary conductor.

In 2022, Anna Ungureanu received the "Marin Constantin" Award for Excellence in Music, and in October of the same year she was elected Romania's representative in the World Choir Council, the governing body of the world choral organization INTERKULTUR. Anna Ungureanu is a member of several national and international juries, her most recent participation as a juror being in 2022 at the International Choral Composition Competition "My First Fifty Years", organized by the Regional Choir Federation AERCO in Italy.