July 2 - July 27, 2007

Bella Musica – Millikin in Italy is a four-week music festival held during the month of July in Urbania, Italy.  Urbania is a beautiful medieval city located in Le Marche region of Italy, between the Adriatic Sea and Tuscany, with a population of about 6,600.  With breathtaking landscapes, a mild climate, and hospitable people, Urbania is a wonderful place for intensive music, language, and culture study. 

Bella Musica is open to talented instrumentalists and vocalists.  Students must register for a minimum of 7 credits: 4 credits of Italian and 3 credits of music.  Students will receive 20 – 25 hours/week of intensive language study at the internationally renowned Centro Studi Italiani ( http://www.centrostuditaliani.org/millikin_it.htm).  Students may choose music credits from a variety of offerings.

Bella Musica BAROQUE offers intensive Early Music vocal training based on period research and performance practice with vocal faculty Daniel Carberg and Matthew Leese, members of Gravitacion, ensemble-in-residence. An intensive course in vocal pedagogy will be offered for those interested in learning how to teach voice.  Vocalists may take private voice lessons, as well as weekly coaching sessions with vocal coaches from the Rossini Opera Festival.  Students will perform numerous recitals in a variety of acoustics and cultural contexts. Venues include Saint Christopher’s Cathedral, Piobbico Castle and the grand Ducal Palace in Urbania.  Additional performance opportunities are available throughout the Le Marche region.

Bella Musica JAZZ curriculum offers a comprehensive course in jazz history and styles, improvisational styles, or advanced improvisation with jazz faculty Randall Reyman and Perry Rask.  Students will also have the opportunity to participate in an ensemble experience which will include live performances in and around Urbania.  Applied instruction in trumpet and saxophone will also be available on a limited basis.

Bella Musica KEYBOARD offers private instruction in piano as well as keyboard accompanying and ensemble with pianist Dr. Susan Cobb.  Pianists taking private lessons will concentrate on solo literature;  performance opportunities are available in weekly recitals in the salon at Centro Studi Italiani and in neighboring cities.  Students choosing to enroll in the accompanying class will be assigned several vocalists to work with during lessons, master classes, and recitals.

An exciting additional component of the Bella Musica 2007 curriculum will be two musical excursions to international events: the Umbria Jazz Festival which takes place in the neighboring towns of Perugia and Gubbio and the opera festival held in the ancient Roman outdoor Arena in Verona.

During the four weeks of the festival, students may stay in apartments or with host families, absorbing local culture on a daily basis. The combination of studying music and the Italian language while living with native Italians is truly unique. For those wanting to explore Italy, weekly excursions are offered Wednesday afternoons and Sundays for a nominal fee.  Students may visit neighboring towns such as Florence, Siena, Assisi, and picturesque coastal towns.  Regional cooking and ceramic classes are also available for non-credit through Centro Studi Italiani.

Bella Musica is open to college students and junior or senior high school students.  All students may receive credit for the language and music components of the program by paying summer school tuition through Millikin University.