Travel
Ischia is an island in the Bay of Naples. There are direct international flights into the Naples airport (NAP). There is inexpensive bus service from the airport to the ferry terminals at the harbor.
Since there are more flights available through Rome, some participants choose to use those airports, then taking the one-hour train ride to Naples.
From Naples to Ischia you must use a ferry service, which have schedules listed here.
By Auto Ferry:
CAREMAR and MEDMAR: provide year-round service from Naples (1h and 15 min.) and Pozzuoli (50 min.) to Ischia. These Ferries can take vehicles to the island and reservations for vehicles are required. Passengers do not need reservations. For information please visit http://www.caremar.it or call (0039) 081-580-5111, or www.medmargroup.it or call (0039) 081-333-4411
By Hi-Speed Ferry:
A state-of-the-art High Speed Catamaran and the high-speed ferries provide year-round service from Naples to Ischia . The ferries depart from the Molo Beverello Pier in Naples and docks in Ischia Pier in under 50 minutes. Please visit www.caremar.it or call (0039) 081-580-5111, or www.medmargroup.it or call (0039) 081-333-4411 for schedules and more information.
Participants flying to Rome
There are hourly high speed trains from Roma’s Termine central station to Naple’s central station. The trains can be booked here www.trenitalia.com.
From Naples train central station, use the Metro, or city bus lines to get to the Molo Beverello Pier for the ferry to Ischia. Google maps has an accurate description of the options.
Note: traffic in central Naples can significantly delay taxis, so your should include that in our travel plans.
Costs
Participating musicians pay a $749 membership fee + the accommodation fees. Non playing guests only pay the accommodation fee.
Accommodation fees
Single room $749
Double room $569 per person
Triple room $479 per person
Quadruple room $419 per person
Accommodation fees are specially negotiated for Ischia participants and guests. They include breakfast and dinner, a bottle of water and of wine per person.
Please note in most cases we are unable to offer refunds, as the accommodation fee also acts as a holding deposit for your room.
Referral discount
If you invite a new musician who has not previously come to Ischia, and you both attend the 2024 edition, you will both receive 25% off ($200) from the cost of the membership fee. This means you will both pay a $549 membership fee instead of $749. This is true for each new musician you refer.
After you register for Ischia workshop, please wire your payment using the following international banking address:
ASSOCIAZIONE KEY LARGO
IBAN
IT45M0760115100001073231449
Participants
You can join by simply filling in this registration form. Not sure if the festival is right for you? You can get updates by subscribing to the newsletter.
The festival welcomes young and adult musicians at all levels and all classical music instruments. We usually have a good mix of very experienced and new players. We match groups based on their experience and interests and the difficulty of the pieces.
And we have players from all over the world, so you will hear many languages spoken. We generally use English or Italian to communicate in group settings, since those two languages are most commonly understood by all players. So you should have a basic understanding of musical terms in one of those two languages.
Most of our past participants enjoy making new friends from these diverse backgrounds. You will get the most for your Ischia experience if you are open to people of different backgrounds.
Yes, we welcome all instruments.
Yes, we welcome pre-formed groups.
Yes, we can provide quality string instruments at a modest additional cost. If you want to rent an instrument, please check that box on the registration form. We will contact you about the details.
Coaches
After receiving his Clarinet Diploma at S. Pietro a Majella Naples Conservatory under the guidance of M° S. Natale, he was a student of M° G. Garbarino at Accademia Chigiana in Siena where he was awarded with scholarships and a “Diploma di Merito”. He played with the Orchestra of Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana di Fiesole. He’s also graduated in “Musica Corale e Direzione di Coro”, in “Strumentazione per Banda”, and “Direzione d’Orchestra per l’avviamento al teatro lirico” with M° P. Bellugi. He has conducted some of the most important Wind Orchestras in Italy. He also conducts at Bacau and Arad National Philarmonic, Craiova “Elena Teodorini”, Kharkov and Ivano Frankivsk Theater, Moldau National Broadcast Orchestra, the Camerata Romanica, and Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Recently, he conducted Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Teatro Maghiaro in Cluj (Romania).
Brian Carter is a native of Charlotte, Michigan and received his Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance from Olivet College and his Master of Music in Horn Performance from Michigan State University. Currently Principal Horn of the Marquette Symphony Orchestra, Gaylord Community Orchestra and Alpena Symphony Orchestra, this past year he served as 4th Horn for the Midland Symphony. A very active freelance player, he also performs with the Marquette Symphony Brass quintet, Northern Winds Brass quintet, Canusa Wind Quintet, Sault Symphony Orchestra, Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra and Midland Symphony Orchestra.
He has been a participant and soloist in the Vianden International Chamber Music Festival in Vianden, Luxembourg, the Ischia International Chamber Music Festival in Italy and the White Lake Music Festival in Montague, Michigan. In addition he has recently performed as soloist with the Sault Symphony Orchestra and Gaylord Community Orchestra and is Music Director of the Tawas Community Concert Band.
Brian De Young is a musician of broad skills and interests ranging from Renaissance and Baroque to musical theatre and new classical music. He is Chapel Music Director and Collaborative Pianist at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, where he also served as Interim Director of Choirs for two years and received an Outstanding Faculty Award in 2026.An active freelance chamber musician, he has performed around the country with members of the Chicago Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Grand Rapids (Michigan) Symphony, Columbus Symphony, and others, and maintains an active coaching and performance schedule with both professional and student singers.
As a choral artist, Brian has sung with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, Minnesota Renaissance Choir, Kantorei, The Summer Singers, and the Italian Baroque ensemble Consortium Carissimi. He has conducted church and community choirs in Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota, and is currently the music director at Trinity Lutheran Congregation on the campus of Augsburg.
Graduated in cello at the age of 19 at the State Conservatory of Music of Salerno, he immediately joined the Italian Youth Orchestra at the Fiesole Music School where he also attended chamber music courses held by Amedeo Baldovino , Maureen Jones, Milan Skampa. He studied for many years with Arturo Bonucci, obtaining a diploma of advanced studies at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, with Giacinto Caramia, Andrea Noferini and Luigi Piovano at the Music Academy of Pescara. From 1996 to 1998 he was Arturo Bonucci’s assistant at the international specialization courses in Riva del Garda. From 1999 to 2007 he held the role of first cello at the lyric-symphonic orchestra of the Teatro di tradition G. di Stefano in Trapani and has had professional positions with various cultural institutions including the Music Conservatories of Messina, Palermo and the INDA of Syracuse. During this time he has worked with internationally renowned soloists and conductors. He was also hired as first cello at the Vittorio Emanuele Theater of Messina, the Orchestra of the Taormina Opera Festival, the Vincenzo Bellini Symphonic Orchestra of Catania, the City of Ravello Orchestra. He has an intense concert activity to his credit which has seen him the winner of numerous national and international competitions both as a soloist and in chamber ensembles.
Ms. Niglio got her violin diploma in 1993 at the Conservatory of Bolzano with Christian Anziger. In 2004 she got her viola diploma. Giuseppina performs internationally in several orchestras and chamber music groups.
Her experiences range from classical to pop music.
Pina had many masterclass with great chamber music players like
Alain Meunier, Cristiano Rossi, Danilo Rossi, Miriam Dal Don and Gabriele Pierannunzi.
Ms. Niglio is the founder of the “Scuola d’Archi Salernitana”, promoting masterclass for young students held by great teachers like Stefano Pagliani, Christian Anzinger, Alessandro Perpic, Ulriche Hofmann. Pina is a violin teacher at music high school De Filippis-Galdi in Cava de’ Tirreni, Italy.
GIGI RUFO studied in Rome, mentored by Maestro Claudio De Angelis, Professor at the Francesco Morlacchi Conservatory in Perugia. He attended international postgraduate courses with Maestros Eliot Fisk (USA), Neil Smith (Great Britain), Alirio Diaz (Venezuela), Costas Cotsiolis (Greece), Oscar Ghiglia (Italy), Hubert Kappel (Germany), Jesus Castro Balbi(France), Victor Serranito (Spain), Ernesto Cordero (Puerto Rico), Pieter van der Staak (Netherlands), Owe Walter(Sweden), and Leo Brouwer (Cuba). He attended the two-year courses in Memorization and Score Study taught by pianist Roberto Daina and Neurophysiologist Antonio Caggiano. He began his professional career at a very early age as a jazz musician, but also as a classical concert pianist. He has recorded and released with SoJazz Music Edition several concerts in the “Jazz Trio” formation (Guitar, Bass & Drums) (Standards Live) and unusual concerts of extemporaneous improvisation for “Guitar Solo” (Concerts). Passionate about live music, he recorded the video concerts for the New Series catalog of NSM Publications: “Portrait of Leo Brouwer” – “Homage to Manuel Maria Ponce” – “Portrait of Owe Walter”. He has an unusual pedagogical production to his credit, published by “Edizioni Setticlavio”. His intense educational research with neurologist Gerardo Dello Ioio and his connection to the History of Music, Bach’s Lute Suites, and Leo Brouwer’s Concertos for Guitar and Orchestra make him an artist difficult to pigeonhole and impossible to define with the canonical, schematic, and ultimately conventional labels. He is a Professor and Chair of “Performance and Interpretation” and the Pop Ensemble Music Workshop at the “Marco Galdi” Music High School in Cava de’ Tirreni
(Salerno).
Born and raised in Italy, Aldo de Vero studied piano at the S. Pietro a Majella Conservatory, at the Accademia Chigiana, and with renowned pianist Bruno Canino. He is a dedicated advocate of contemporary music and in particular of American Composers. He has performed many works by American composers in his solo recitals and with the Appalachian Ensemble including music by John Cage, George Crumb, Morton Feldman, Henry Cowell, Ernest Bloch, Samuel Barber and a rewarding first performance in Italy of “Three Quarter Tone Pieces” by Charles Ives for the 1994 G7 summit in Naples. His performances often include informative commentary on the composers, their pieces, and their places in musical history.
As director and conductor of the Coro Polifonico “S.Leonardo” di Procida, he has released a compact disc recording entitled “Fenesta che lucive” (PoloSud) of his own transcriptions of Neapolitan classic songs sung by the choir accompanied by non-traditional instruments.
Although focusing on his career as a pianist and chamber musician with worldwide performances, Aldo de Vero is also founding member of Key Largo (www.associazionekeylargo.it), an organization that produces musical events and chamber music workshops such as the engaging Ischia Chamber Music Festival (www.ischiachambermusic.org).
You can enjoy an example of Aldo playing a Ravel piece for four hands here.
Music
The workshop can best be described as serious, friendly fun. Every musician is supported and encouraged to play their best. And we also encourage building new friendships. The goal is have a satisfying musical and personal experience. There is a video of the 2022 workshop which will give you a feeling of the experience.
The first four days of the workshop are spent working on pieces assigned well in advance of the workshop’s start. Each day, there are three 90 minute sessions, two each morning and one in the afternoon. There is an optional orchestra session in the evening before dinner.
The fifth day is unscheduled, so that you can tour the island, perform free-lance pieces, practice, and just relax.
On the sixth and seventh days, each group will focus on a specific pieces which you, your colleagues, and coaches decide will be most interesting.
There is a final public concert featuring these last pieces before dinner the last day.
The next morning, the workshop ends after breakfast together.
Yes! For the 20th anniversary edition in 2024, we are planning a special concert in a unique location. Stay tuned for more details.
You can see a complete description of the ACMP self rating here.
No, it is fine if you prefer to end your participation at the workshops. The concerts are extras, intended to add to your playing experience in front of audiences.
The festival works on pieces from the standard western classical music repertoire, from Baroque through Contemporary composers. We select pieces based on players abilities and interests. And the groups range from duets to nonets. We include at least one orchestral piece for all players.