Friday Night is Music Night

Cisternino, Puglia, Italy. September-2025. 

One of the things I like about Cisternino is the amount of live music mostly free. For the last four weeks we have had live jazz on a Friday night courtesy of Bar Fod interspersed with one evening of classical guitar thanks to the Valle D’Itria Guitar Festival.

Bar Fod used to put on a series of Sunday lunchtime concerts in the summer but they were proving a little too hot for the performers. Instead, they switched to Friday evening jazz concerts.

Friday 05-September.

We booked a table and met up with friends for the first of the September concerts following our return from the UK. An excellent pair of musicians - we spent an enjoyable and relaxing hour and a half sipping our wine and being entertained with some cool jazz. 

Claudio Chiarelli /sax
Aldo Di Paolo / piano.

I liked the keyboardist’s shirt clearly inspired by Mondrian with added cats.

Friday 12-September.

The following Friday we had a collection of jazz standards from a lady with a very pleasant voice although we did agree she had a somewhat narrow dynamic range.

Serena Grittani /vocal
Bruno Montrone / piano

Friday, 19 September.

This concert was part of the Valle D’Itria Guitar Festival, mostly held in Martina Franca but this particular concert was in Cisternino. The venue was the evocative Chiesa di Santa Maria di Costantinopoli (aka The church with the skull and crossbones). 

Giovanni Masi / Chitarra.

An award-winning young guitarist, his fingers were flying all over the fretboard. The acoustics in the church were great for such a small intimate concert.

Programma

• N. Paganini (1782.-1840) 
• Dalle 37 Sonate per chitarra: Sonata n. 16 - Sonata n. 33
• M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) 
• Capriccio diabolico (Omaggio a Paganini), op. 85
• G. Sanz (1640-17109 / M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco 
• Suite Española di Sanz Espanoleta - Gallarda - Villano
• Escarraman, op. 177 di Castelnuovo-Tedesco "Pesame dello amor..." Danza de las Hachas Rujero y Paradetas
• Zarabanda al Ayre Español El Rey Don Alfonso el Bueno Canario
• M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco 
• Caprichos de Goya, op. 195: No hubo remedio
• E. Morricone (1928-2020) 
• Quattro pezzi per chitarra sola: Calmo - Poco più - Andantino - Meno 
• Nuovo Cinema Paradiso: Prima gioventu
• Quattro pezzi per chitarra sola Western Suite: IV. Adagio molto.

Friday, 26 September.

The final concert in the series and, by general consensus, the best in terms of quality of the musicianship. They clearly had great rapport and were enjoying themselves. They played two encores at the insistence of the crowd.

Alberto Di Leone / tromba
Antonio Laviero / piano.

Footnote: the title of this blog is a nod to the world's longest-running, live, orchestral music, radio programme on the BBC Friday Night is Music Night .