The OSI plays in Locarno for Unitas's eightieth anniversary

The Orchestra della Svizzera italiana will give an open-air concert on 27 August on Piazza del PalaCinema in Locarno. The event celebrates the eightieth anniversary of Unitas.

The format involves an unusual way of listening. Blind and partially sighted people will be able to take their seats within the orchestra, sitting alongside the musicians.

It is a choice that changes the listening position rather than adding a service at the margins. Anyone seated among the instruments perceives where the sounds come from and the physical presence of the playing, elements that are lost from the stalls.

For the rest of the audience, admission is free in front of the stage, while places last.

Programme and organisation

The musical programme includes works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Joseph Haydn.

The initiative is organised in collaboration with Unitas and forms part of the «be connected» project. Support comes from the Ernst Göhner Stiftung and the Beisheim Stiftung.

Unitas is the association that works with blind and partially sighted people in Ticino, and the eightieth anniversary marks the length of that presence in the region.

The classical repertoire of Mozart and Haydn calls for smaller forces than later symphonic music. An ensemble of modest size makes it practical to seat part of the audience among the musicians.

Free admission without booking nonetheless makes attendance hard to estimate in advance. In an open-air square that bears on the seating arrangement and on managing access.

The event falls at the end of the Locarno summer season, when the city has just closed its film festival. A square already equipped for events simplifies the logistics of a concert with a mixed audience and a seating arrangement that differs from the usual one.