In the Italian Dolomites, in the Alta Pusteria valley, a large choir festival is held regularly in mid-June. Over the years, and because the festival has a venerable tradition – this year it was the 29th! – the event has grown to gigantic proportions. One could say that the entire Pusteria valley lives with choir singing for those few days. In June 2025, our choir Cantoria Praha also participated, for the third time in total.
In order to arrive at our destination on time, the task was clear: set an alarm clock inhumanly early and set off from Prague towards Italy at 7 a.m. However, we did not let the lack of sleep or the many-hour bus journey spoil our mood. After arriving in the village of San Giovanni, accommodation and dinner awaited us at the beautiful Steinpent Hotel. Those of us who had the courage to sit through the evening program and the concert, in addition to the long journey, then quickly set off for the town of Toblach, where one of the centers of the entire festival is located. The opening and closing ceremonies of the festival are traditionally held in the Mahler Hall. We were probably most impressed this evening by the choirs from the USA and Hungary.
On Thursday, a rich program awaited us. First, we traveled to the foot of Mount Kronplatz, where a cable car was already prepared for all festival participants to take us to the top of the mountain: 2,275 m above sea level. In the breathtaking scenery of the peaks of the Italian Dolomites and next to the Concordia bell, the traditional opening parade of all choirs that have been participating in the festival since the very beginning takes place. The organizers used alphabetical order to arrange the individual performances, so Cantoria Praha performed with the composition Nebeští kavalérové by Adam Michna from Otradovice relatively early in the morning, surrounded by other Czech choirs that participated in the festival.
In the afternoon, we had the task of arriving in Dobbiaco, to the Mahler Hall, where another, this time slightly smaller, choir parade was held. Each of the eight choirs – this time from Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic and Germany – could perform two compositions of their own choice.
Thursday evening was free, with no performances. After dinner, we each chose entertainment according to our own taste. Some went for a walk, others exchanged impressions or rested, and others took advantage of the fact that the festival program was really rich and that even in the village where we were staying, a festival concert was held every evening.
Friday was a day of rest for us. We had only one performance on the program, an informal concert under the open sky in front of a chapel built on the shore of Lago di Braise. We enjoyed a short performance in a fairy-tale setting and then we could go on a trip. There were several options – walk around the lake, climb to the saddle to the pub or even to the lake view high up in the hills.
On the other hand, Saturday was marked by demanding time organization. We spent most of the day in the very heart of the festival, in the town of San Candido. At ten o’clock in the morning we had a concert in the church of St. Michael’s Church in the square, where we presented our spiritual repertoire to the audience. After lunch, we were treated to a parade of all the choirs (imagine, there were over 80 of them!) and a joint singing of songs, traditionally including Va pensiero and Signore delle cime.
After dinner at the hotel, we had to move back to Brunico, where our last singing performance of the festival, a selection of folk songs, awaited us in the modern concert hall.
All that was left for Sunday was the closing ceremony, which we did not attend with a heavy heart. We preferred to set off on time for home, to Prague. The whole trip was both time-consuming and physically demanding, and we all wanted to arrive home at a reasonable hour if possible…
What is there to say in conclusion? The festival in Alta Pusteria is one of the most beautiful events you can attend. Mountain panoramas, pure nature, old churches and modern concert halls… But above all, an incredibly friendly atmosphere and good promotion of the concerts! At the individual concerts, we, the choir singers, were not the only ones who made listeners for each other. At each concert, there were quite a few local (or even cross-country, who knows?) spectators who warmly appreciated the individual performances. Cantoria Praha participated in this festival for the third time in its 40-year history, but it is quite possible that it will not be the last. PS: those interested in detailed photo reports from the individual festival days should take a look at our Facebook profile.
