Rome Baroque Festival

18th Edition — Music for Peace

The eighteenth edition of the Rome Baroque Festival was held from November 30 to December 22, 2025, with twelve concerts in the historic center of Rome. The guiding theme, "Music for Peace," highlighted Baroque music as a language of dialogue and coexistence, including collaborations with Ukrainian musicians as part of the Kyiv Baroque Music Festival.

Featured artists included the vocal ensemble Odhecaton directed by Paolo Da Col, the Gesualdo Six, Simone Vallerotonda's Bassifondi Ensemble, Soqquadro Italiano, the Cappella Mediterranea, and Jordi Savall with Hespérion XXI. Concerts took place at the Refectory of the Minims at the Monastery of Trinità dei Monti, the church of Santa Maria dell'Anima, San Salvatore alle Coppelle, the Sala della Regina of the Chamber of Deputies, and the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Piazza Navona. The final concert on December 22 featured Alessandro Scarlatti's Christmas Mass with the Ensemble Festina Lente.

Program of the 18th edition (Nov 30 - Dec 22, 2025): Nov 30 — Odhecaton (dir. Paolo Da Col), Mass by A. Scarlatti on Palestrina; Dec 2 — Gesualdo Six (dir. Owen Park), Palestrina and Gesualdo da Venosa; Dec 4 — Bassifondi Ensemble (Simone Vallerotonda), serenade "Clori, Lidia e Filli"; Dec 6 — Soqquadro Italiano, "Who's afraid of Baroque?"; Dec 8 — Ulrika Davidsson, harpsichord (Bach, C.Ph.E. Bach, Haydn); Dec 9 — Hans Davidsson, organ, "From Darkness to Light"; Dec 12 — Hespérion XXI (dir. Jordi Savall), "The Garden of the Hesperides"; Dec 13 — Kohei Takeoka, harpsichord, Frescobaldi legacy; Dec 16-17 — Beatriz Lopez Par and Cappella Mediterranea; Dec 18 — Zampogne di Monte Sant'Angelo, Christmas music for children; Dec 22 — Ensemble Festina Lente (dir. Michele Gasbarro), 1707 Christmas Mass by A. Scarlatti.

Jordi Savall with Hespérion XXI; the Odhecaton ensemble; the Gesualdo Six; the "Music for Peace" theme with the collaboration of the Kyiv Baroque Music Festival; the final concert featuring Alessandro Scarlatti's Christmas Mass.