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

Sara Matteucci is a choral conductor and musicologist. A graduate of Choral Music and Choral Conducting and of History of Music, she is pofessor for Vocal Ensemble Music at the "Boccherini" Conservatory in Lucca, where he also teaches History of Musical Theatre at the Master's Degree Course in Artistic Direction and Musical Management (MaDAMM). He has been preparing and conducting the Conservatory Choir since 2009. She has been the choir director of the conservatory since 2009. 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, Ivan Fischer and 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 and head teacher of the choral singing school of the same institution. 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. She was also choirmaster at the Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico in concerts with Andrea Bocelli and teacher of the music workshop at YoungG7 for Education promoted by the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit. She is Director of the musicological magazine "Codice 602" (ed. Sillabe) and has numerous publications and participation as a speaker at conferences and symposia to her credit. She is a member of the Artistic Commission of the Tuscany Choirs Association.

Christian Klucker is intensively committed to choral culture in Switzerland. As a freelance choir director, conducting and coaching at home and abroad are his great passions. He likes to describe himself as a sound freak - expression and charisma are at the forefront of his musical work.

He leads the internationally award-winning "Vokalensemble incantanti". In 2019, Klucker was engaged as a guest conductor at the Musikhochschule Basel and with the Swiss Youth Choir. He also conducts the children's and youth choir "STIMMWERKBANDE".

At the international choir competition Voices for Peace 2017, he was awarded a special prize as best conductor.

Since 2018, he has been a member of the artistic advisory board of the European Youth Choir Festival in Basel and president of the award committee of the "Interessengemeinschaft Volkskultur", a Pro Helvetia foundation.

On behalf of the "Swiss Children's and Youth Choir Association", he is mainly responsible for choir director training within the framework of the federal programme "Youth and Music". For the past two years, he has been developing the concept for the promotion of young musical talent for the federal government and the canton of Graubünden.

Külli Kiivet (1979) graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2006 majoring in musical education and Tallinn Georg Ots Music High School in 2001 majoring in classical singing. She works at Tallinn School of Music and Ballet, teaching voice placing and leading the Young Children`s Choir. She is the chief conductor and artistic director of the Estonian National Girls’ Choir LEELO and she`s a voice placer for the Estonian National Opera Boys Choir and prepares boys perform in operas; many of her students s have been awarded in National and International song contests. Külli Kiivet has been a conductor in Estonian Song and Dance Festivals for girl´s and female choirs and has been chosen female choir’s lead conductor at the 28th Estonian Song and Dance Festival planned in July 2025. She has been often invited to be a member of Jury at various song contests in Estonia and has been a guest conductor on County Song Festivals.

Külli Kiivet has been awarded the Estonian Choir Union Annual Awards – "Young Conductor of the Year 2009“, „Conductor of the Year 2017“, “Conductor of the Year 2022” and she is Cultural Endowment of Estonia, folk culture annual award winner in 2021.