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Interview

Gian Marco Sanna on A=432 Hz Conferences in Sardinia:
A=432 Hz In Order To Change the World

October 2016


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Courtesy of Gian Marco Sanna
The hall in the Torre Aragonese of Ghilarza (an ancient tower)

On September 16 and 17, 2016, Gian Marco Sanna, violinist and founder of the Geminiani Project, held two conferences on A=432 Hz in Sardinia (Italy), in Nulvi and Ghilarza on the importance of the Verdi Tuning. His London-based ensemble, the Camerata Geminiani, performed at the historic Schiller Institute conference and Musical Dialogue of Cultures Concert in Berlin on June 25, and Maestro Sanna also made a presentation to the conference on June 26. Liliana Gorini, an initiator of the Schiller Institute campaign to lower the concert pitch to the Verdi Tuning, which began in Italy in 1988, interviewed Maestro Sanna on the two conferences in Sardinia.

Q: What were the themes of the two conferences you held in Sardinia on Verdi tuning and which pieces did you perform?


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Courtesy of Gian Marco Sanna
Quintet.

Sanna: Together with Maestro Antonello Manca and Pierpaolo Pais, we held two conferences with the participation and questions from the audience.

The main theme was obviously the original frequency of 432 Hz. We explained how tuning was brought up to 440 Hz, gave scientific evidence of 432 Hz, and performed some pieces so that the audience could hear the harmonic, color and emotional differences.

We also had, via Skype, interventions from experts of Verdi tuning such as musician and composer Giordano Sandalo, and musicians such as Olesya Sablina, the first cello of the Camerata Geminiani, and Bettina Rustemeyer, a German violinist who chose years ago to only play at A=432 Hz. The result was an intense and vibrant meeting between us and the audience, which is always caught by surprise, in a positive way. We performed Bach’s aria, Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, the last movement of the Concerto alla Rustica of Vivaldi, the second movement of Bach’s Concerto for two violins, plus "C'era una volta in America" by Ennio Morricone. We heard wonderful testimonies of sick people who cure themselves with music played at A=432 Hz, of a bar tenant who plays for his clients a CD at 440 and then the same music at 432 to observe the difference, of pianists who play at A=432, skeptical and curious musicians, teachers, and common people who went away with this new information which they may use in the future. The emotional impact is always very big: they never leave us without a hug, and a compliment. Many are moved by the music, some are surprised. We can say with certainty that it does not leave people indifferent! I am back in London, where I live and work, but we have been invited to more conference in Sardinia soon, and we are proposing the same also elsewhere in Italy, with interesting results.


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Courtesy of Gian Marco Sanna
Trio.

Q: What is the Geminiani Project?

Sanna: In 1997 I left Italy to make different working experiences—always in the field of classical music—and I went to France, Germany, Spain, Portugal. In 2012 I moved to London, and I felt it was time to start a project to revive “natural” music. When I found out about A=432 Hz I tuned my violin to this pitch, and since then I never tuned it back to A=440. I discovered also that Francesco Geminiani (1687-1782) had moved to London, became the musician of the king, and had a lot of success here in England. 2012 was the 250th anniversary of his Geminiani's death, so I named my project after him. I created the Camerata Geminiani, the first string orchestra at 432 Hz in Europe, and probably the world. Later I formed the Hampton Chamber Orchestra, also this unique in its kind, an orchestra of beginners playing at 432 Hz, and now I am starting a group of violins playing at 432, which will allow me to open the Geminiani Academy, first Academy at 432 Hz.

Essentially, the Geminiani Project, exclusively works with 432 Hz, no matter what we do. We also plan a chorus which will sing folk music and traditional ethnic songs of various countries, still at 432 Hz, and we have other plans, such as bringing music to sick people. I know it sounds like an ambitious project, but I am convinced that if we do not try to change the world, we will never make it.