Young Music Lovers’ Academy | Presto, vivace! So why do classical musicians speak Italian?

Ciao, cari bambini! Get ready for a tale of an extraordinary adventure that happened one warm summer night to a boy named Francesco. In his grandfather’s old, forgotten scores, he came across strange words that, like magic spells, awakened a winged lion who had been sleeping for years. Together, we’ll ride on its back to sunny Italy to learn the Italian language and understand the mysterious words scattered throughout sheet music-words that classical musicians use all over the world to communicate.

What do presto, largo, poco, fermata or glissando mean? In Italy, do people eat their meals solo or tutti insieme? And if we’re lucky, we might even meet Signore Crescendo himself during his evening walk around the Colosseum.