Making Music in Italy 2023

A sensational mix of singing and cultural immersion

Please register your interest in joining us for this trip in 2024>>

"Come and join us on this singing extravaganza in Italy with good food, good song, good wine and new friends."

We've listened to our past participants and made this event more than twice the length of our previous Singing in Siena events, with three outstanding teachers and staying in three stunning locations! 

Week One: Montestigliano estate 

13–20 May – 7 nights – Staying in villas and apartments around the central piazza

• Singing workshop sessions with Tony Backhouse and local Italian director Edoardo Materassi
• Learn a repertoire of songs to form a combined choir with Edoardo’s acclaimed choir ‘Animae Voces’ to perform in Florence on our last night
• 2 x Tours to exquisitely beautful Tuscan villages including Siena 
• Eat banquet meals; a magnificent welcome dinner, a fun pizza night that keeps on giving and other delicious and healthy meals throughout the week
• Make new friends with a shared love of community singing
• Damiano will delight you with his Italian version of karaoke and dance in the piazza

Week Two: Mercatello sul Metauro

20–26 May – 6 nights – Staying in Palazzo Donati and villas in the medieval village of Mercatello sul Metauro

This small village has –

• beautiful and historic places of interest
• a generous and wonderful open hearted community that will be happy to talk with you regardless of language barriers
• great choirs 
• places to enjoy food, coffee and 'apertivo' around the piazza
• enchanting cobblestone alleys

26–28 May – Florence

Staying in a beautiful monastery and taking part in a performance with a local choir

Our last couple of nights will be spent in the centre of the stunningly beautiful city of Florence. It is in easy walk to –

• all the wonderful sites of Florence including the Duomo
• shops and galleries
• markets and restaurants 

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See picture below of the extraordinary UNESCO protected  Pallazo Ducale, in Urbino where we will visit on our excursion. One of the 12 great wonders of the world!



Pictures below are taken in Palazzo Donati and from the village of Mercatello sul Metuaro

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Pictures below taken in Montestigliano

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Edoardo Materassi

"It was around 2004 when I first met Edoardo through mutual friends outside Florence, but it was to be another 13 years before I got the chance to really see him in action as a choral director. It was an easy decision to commission him as co-director of our annual Tuscany singing holiday events from that year on. He is a real master of his craft with an ability to tune into a group whether they are young or old, experts or beginners, and extract the very best in a fun and non-confronting style. He always delivers exhilarating results!"  Jennifer Richardson, curator. 

BIO: Edoardo Materassi, guitarist, composer, choir director and teacher. 

Edoardo has an intense log of well over 400 concerts both in Italy and abroad. His compositions have been performed in Italy, France, Germany, Holland and Australia. 

He has collaborated with musicians and actors such as: Vars Music, Faye Nepon, Luca di Volo, Claudia Bombardella, Annamaria Castelli, Alessandro Lanzoni, Giorgio Guiot, Carlo Pavese, Monica Bauco, Ivano Bini, Zeta Archive, Maurizio Maggiani, Ernesto De Martino Institute, Orchestra AgimusArte, Sunrise Orchestra. He collaborates as a teacher with the Cantascuola di Torino association.

Edoardo teaches harmony, choral exercises, ensemble music and guitar at numerous schools in the province of Florence. He is artistic director of the School of Music of Calenzano and is a member of the artistic commission of the Cori della Toscana Association.

He is passionate about community singing and directs the choirs: Animae Voces, Mulieris Voces, Sesto in Canto, the choir of the "P. Calamandrei "and the choir of the" Cavalcanti "Inferior Middle Schools of Sesto Fiorentino. With the choirs Animae Voces and Mulieris Voces he has been awarded at various competitions. Edoardo Materassi has co-directed multiple singing holiday events in Italy with The Create Escape with participants from all over Australia and New Zealand since 2017.

"I have had the great pleasure of participating in a number of The Create Escape Singing events in Italy over the years.  A highlight was singing under the directorship of Edoardo Materassi. His vocal warm-up techniques and his passion for choral singing is truly infectious. After just a few short days, he had us singing Italian, African and Macedonian songs, all taught with encouragement and ease. He is nurturing and just a bundle of positive energy and FUN!  Can't wait to sing with him again!" Jules Damian

"I'd go anywhere in the world to sing with Edoardo again" Lorraine Melanson

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Testimonials

" Rich and deeply restorative, fun and inspiring."- Shelley Kenigsberg

" SINGING IN SIENA in Montestigliano. A beautiful week full of rich experiences. In the most magical location!
Both directors were fun and inspiring and it was lovely to have the new dynamic of Edoardo's teaching to balance with Tony's. A week is a long time to be singing with one director, so I thought it was a great idea to share it between two.."- Maegan Young

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