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Rating: In this, despite everything, whirlwind musical summer, you may also stumble upon small musical gems where you least expect them. So, one summer evening, you pass through Vignanello and find a square packed to the brim, waiting for an orchestra of young people and teenagers, many from the area. You think, "they must all be relatives, mothers, grandmothers, and aunts."
But no: Orchestralunata is a reality known nationwide and already boasts record releases with important collaborations. You search the internet and find: "An orchestra in every sense that, with its twenty elements, knows how to amaze the audience with its originality. The diverse group of musicians is composed of children and teenagers between 7 and 18 years old who, without hesitation, have plunged into this experience, making them increasingly known and appreciated every year. But to think that ORCHESTRALUNATA is simply a youth orchestra is a delusion, because the repertoire that accompanies the band is anything but ordinary. Able to range from deeply profound texts to pearls of pure fun and absolute vitality, the notes flowing from the instruments of the "stralunati" are capable of moving the audience from the first to the last performance. And of course, behind an unusual orchestra, there couldn't be anything but an unusual conductor, Maestro Maurizio Gregori, who on stage knows how to blend with the group and its rhythms, guiding it through that deep understanding he shares with his young musicians. In short, ORCHESTRALUNATA is a vortex of musicality and universal messages that have been confirmed by artistic recognition and collaborations with great musicians of the national panorama. Lending their voices in the recording of the new ORCHESTRALUNATA album were indeed Simone Cristicchi, Teresa De Sio, Cisco (the former singer of Modena City Ramblers), and also Sandokan and the Sud Sound System. A work that lasted months led the band to create a daring repertoire, consisting of the reinterpretation of songs that have marked entire generations and a series of originals that gently manage to speak of strongly social themes.” (from www.orchestralunata.it)
The sound is indeed engaging and frenetic, with Balkan and klezmer echoes, the wind sections well-arranged and precise in their interventions and stage presence, the backline well present yet not intrusive. Everything is perfect, and the only thing that jars is the fact that all this comes from teenagers you would expect to see zooming by on scooters or bored, leaning against some wall. But these are evidently prejudices difficult to overcome for seasoned musicians. As in their album, on this magical evening, they are accompanied on stage for a long musical cameo by Simone Cristicchi, who sings some of his hits with the Orchestra and seems to have an absolute blast, especially with a couple of little ones playing the trumpet in the brass section. Then the Roman singer-songwriter gifts the overflowing audience with more pearls from his repertoire, accompanying himself on the guitar. Thus flow "Vorrei cantare come Biagio Antonacci", "L’Italia di Piero", "Studentessa universitaria", up to "Ti regalerò una rosa" which earned him victory at Sanremo in 2007. You leave the square with a sense of fulfillment and almost euphoric cheerfulness, while in the background Orchestralunata continues to provide freshness, the joy of playing, and authenticity, as very few musical groups can do nowadays. A lovely gift, possible only on a summer night, thanks to the delectable 6th Festival DiVino, Orchestralunata and its mentors Maurizio Gregori and Emiliano Di Vozzo, and to luck, which sometimes grants you precious pearls you didn't expect.
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