The Italian Character

This documentary is about the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecili, whose musical director is no one else but the great Antonio Pappano. This film gathers rehearsals and interviews from the members of the orchestra, explaining what an orchestra really is, and more particularly what an Italian orchestra really is.

Based on the assumption that Italy has its own musical identity, the film takes the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia as the starting point of an investigation on the matter. And what would be this identity; in what way is Italian music different? According to Gianluca Grosso, playing tuba in the orchestra, it's all about the bel canto: "This abbiamo dentro, we have it in our soul"

It is not surprising when we know that Maestro Antonio Pappano made his debut as a piano accompanist for his voice teacher father's students. He definitely knows what singing is. This film is also about Yuri Temirkanov, bringing some russian tradition to the orchestra during some rehearsals and a concert with Lisa Batiashvili. The perfect opportunity for the master of orchestra conducting to tell us about his memorable meeting with Dmitri Shostakovich, one of his favorite composers today.