Italian Jazz Festivals Feature Gershwin Tribute and Calvino-Inspired Concerts

The Festival LeAltreNote continues its 2026 program in northern Italy. On 4 August, the Collegiata di San Lorenzo in Chiavenna hosts a concert titled “La vie en blue”, honoring George Gershwin and Édith Piaf. The performance brings together jazz vocalist Sara Jane Ghiotti and the Gershwin Quintet, a saxophone ensemble supported by pianist Maria Giulia Cester.

The following day, 5 August, the festival moves to Livigno’s Laghetto di Luigion for the “FunFare” concert, featuring a repertoire that includes music by John Williams, Gershwin, Ennio Morricone and others.

In Legnano, the Jazzaltro series presents “Le città invisibili” on 7 August. The Luigi Martinale Quartet and the chamber orchestra of the Conservatory “Giorgio Federico Ghedini” perform a jazz‑classical adaptation of Italo Calvino’s novel *Invisible Cities*, with Martinale’s album of the same name serving as the basis. The concert is organized in collaboration with the Legnano municipality and is part of the “La Bella Estate” summer program.