Tuscia in Jazz Festival, has now reached its eleventh year of activity (2012) and besides being deeply rooted in the Province of Viterbo and surroundings, (Lower Etruria, Italy) it also holds a strong international dimension and vocation. The TIJ Festival has been recently recognised (2011) from the Italian specialized magazine JAZZIT as the second best Italian jazz festival.
Every year the greatest stars of the jazz international scene, students travelling from locations as far as Mexico and Australia and passionate jazz fans coming at times from hundreds of kilometres away, gather in the locations of the Tuscia in jazz festival.
In this beautiful scenario, music and namely jazz are of very high quality and nevertheless not considered as an elitarian rite but, rather, a joyful event open to all.
Having started in 2002 in the small medieval town of Ronciglione, NW of Rome, thanks to the crazy passion of a small group of courageous, Tuscia in Jazz festival is presently spread out to ten towns of the Province of Viterbo, including the homonymous town Viterbo. The festival offers over 150 musical events – for the great majority free of charge (all concerts held outdoors are free) master classes attended by an average of 300 students per year, and has expanded to an intense record production of its events, which is also internationally distributed.
It must be also highlighted that the Tuscia in Jazz Festival hosts the Jimmy Woode European Jazz Award, dedicated to the memory of the famous bass player and to the specific role of European contribution to jazz. This competition, open to young musicians under 30, awards the winners with the chance of playing together with the big shots of the jazz scene and to eventually record their work with them.
Since several years, the Tuscia In Jazz Festival has been also awarded the honour of representing Italy in New York, collaborating with Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Italian Culture Institute to the Italian Jazz Days, a festival entirely devoted to Italian jazz, that is held every year in New York, USA, during the celebrations of the Columbus Day.
More recently, the TIJ festival has started a collaboration with the Australian and Canadian jazz scenes in order to create occasions for the next coming future collaborations.
We feel that – although with an already strong background and successful present reality – Tuscia in Jazz Festival is at the beginning of a new exciting era.
The artists
In the past ten years of activity, (2011) an audience of hundreds of thousands has converged from literally all around the world to the Province of Viterbo (Italy) to assist to the Festival’s jazz concerts.
One simple reason for this: from here have passed great musicians which have made and still make the story of jazz music. Masters such as Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, Eddie Gomez, Buster Williams, Archie Shepp, Dave Liebman, George Garzone, Sonny Fortune, Bobby Durham, Kenny Barron, Antonio Sanchez, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Steve Khun, Dave Kikoski, Mulgrew Miller, Peter Bernstein, David Murray, Ray Mantilla, Sahwnn Monteiro, Aaron Goldberg, Joey De Francesco, Francisco Mela, Kioshi Kitagawa, Billy Drummond, Rick Margitza, Tony Monaco and many others.
Obviously, also a premium selection of the great Italian jazz talents has been staged by Tuscia in Jazz, with artists of the caliber of Roberto Gatto, Enrico Pieranunzi, Rosario Giuliani, Dado Moroni, Flavio Boltro, Stefano Di Battista, Danilo Rea, Javier Girotto, Antonio Ciacca, Fabrizio Bosso, Antonello Salis, Gianni Basso, Gegè Munari, Marco Tamburini and Giorgio Rosciglione, just to name a few.
Not all of this creative bounty has been dispersed in the brief space of one live exhibition: many of the concerts have been recorded live and produced by the TIJ independent label, and can now be bought on our store online.
The locations
The territory that goes under the historical definition of “Tuscia” comprises a good portion of central Italy, and is the Middle Age name for what used to be Etruria, the Etruscan territory.
This land is a perfect example of the extraordinay cultural and natural heritage of Italy. It’s story dates even before the Etruscan domination and is disseminated with historical landmarks from the Middle Age and Renaissance. The environment is also remarkable, with the series of lakes of volcanic origin, thermal baths and sources and impressive woods sacred to many cultures, gently descending to the nearby Thyrrenian sea, making this territory one of the most interesting areas in Italy.
The Tuscia in Jazz Festival is hosted in many of these incredibile locations: the archeological park in Sutri, Farnese Palace in Caprarola, the Renaissance downtown of Ronciglione, Villa Lante in Bagnaia, the Orsini Castle and the Medieval historical centre of Soriano nel Cimino, the ancient town of Bagnoregio and the Castle in Canepina.
Partecipatine in the events of the Tuscia In Jazz therefore means not only listening to premium qualità jazz music, or meeting people from alla round the world, but also explore one of the most beautiful areas in Italy.