Biography

The “Luigi Venturini” Choir was formed in Tagliacozzo in February 1972 by the interest of Maestro Elisa Blasetti and her brother Gaetano who dedicated it to the poet Tagliacozzano Luigi Venturini, author of songs on local customs and traditions. The association has never interrupted the activity of folk choir and traditional group aimed at rediscovering and re-proposing the traditions of Abruzzo that it presents to its public through songs, dances, rituals and ancient crafts. In all these years there have been numerous cultural exchanges woven with groups from all over the world, present at the International Folklore Festival organized by the association in Tagliacozzo at the end of July. The choir has long been a member of the Italian Federation of Popular Traditions which also has a Scientific Council composed of illustrious scholars of Ethnohistory under whose guidance it has also undertaken the path of research on the Regional territory. The successes that the choir has achieved over time are numerous as evidenced by the certificates, plaques and cups that furnish its headquarters, which testify to how many countries in the world it has gone as an ambassador of popular culture in Abruzzo. Today it is presided over by Maria Lidia De Dominicis, directed by M°. Monica TORTORA and accompanied by accordionist Giovanni FANTOZZI. Its members are about forty including musicians engaged in the sound of exclusively traditional instruments such as the diatonic accordion, the caccavella, the tambourine and the castanets.