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

Milena Dobreva, born in 1962 in Burgas, Bulgaria, is a distinguished music educator and conductor. She holds qualifications in Pop and Jazz Singing from the National Academy of Music in Sofia and Music Technology from Sofia University. With over three decades of experience, Milena has taught at leading music institutions, including the National School of Music and Performing Arts in Burgas.
Milena founded and leads the renowned Vocal Ensemble "Fortissimo," known for its innovative performances and artistic excellence. She is also the creator of the award-winning children's Vocal Formation "Morski Pesachinki," producing several albums and achieving national and international recognition.
As a composer and arranger, her works have won awards at prestigious competitions. Milena's achievements include the "Teacher of the Year" award, "Burg of the Year" for her success as a conductor, and the "Crystal Lyre" for music excellence. She was named Music Educator of the Year 2023 by Bulgarian National Radio and is an Honorary Citizen of Burgas.
Milena's commitment to music education and performance continues to inspire new generations of artists.

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.

Joanna Tomlinson is a conductor, singer and vocal coach based in London. She is on the conducting staff for National Youth Choir of Great Britain and is Music Director of the Whitehall Choir and Constanza Chorus in London. In her time as Artistic Director of Farnham Youth Choir they were winners of two gold medals in the 2019 European Choir Games in Sweden.
As a guest conductor Joanna has worked with choirs including the BBC Symphony Chorus and is in demand as a workshop leader, delivering conducting and vocal training for organisations including the Association of British Choral Directors and the Association of Teachers of Singing, Glyndebourne, the Philharmonia, Gabrieli Consort ROAR outreach programme, National Youth Choir of Poland, National Youth Choir of Wales, and the UK Choir Festival.
Joanna gained a postgraduate diploma in singing with distinction at the Royal College of Music, before turning to conducting and has sung with some of the UK's outstanding professional choirs including BBC Singers, Philharmonia Voices, Britten Sinfonia Voices, Gabrieli Consort, London Voices and Sonoro.