The Musical Garden is born at the Museo Novecento

In the courtyard of the Leopoldine, a new sound experimentation project with the Glauk Sound system and collaborations with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Fiesole School of Music

The Museo Novecento in Florence opens a new and significant frontier in cultural experimentation with the Giardino Musicale delle Leopoldine (Musical Garden of the Leopoldines), a project currently under development that transforms the museum’s historic courtyard into an immersive listening space dedicated to contemporary music research, dialogue between the arts, and technological innovation.

Thanks to the installation of an advanced Glauk Sound system and the launch of two outstanding collaborations with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, Museo Novecento reaffirms its vocation as a place of active cultural production, as well as conservation and enhancement of artistic heritage.

Giardino Musicale al Museo del Novecento

A garden that plays: the Glauk Sound system at Museo Novecento

At the heart of the project is the installation of the Glauk Sound system, an internationally patented technology that transforms architectural surfaces into natural acoustic diffusers. Stone, glass, wood, earth and even plants become integral parts of the sonic experience, delivering a sound that is immersive, uniform and perfectly integrated into the historic setting of the Leopoldine complex.

In the Giardino delle Leopoldine, sound does not come from visible loudspeakers: the space itself vibrates, creating a true sonic bubble that envelops visitors and invites attentive, conscious listening. This concept echoes the spirit of the historical avant-gardes and renews, in a contemporary key, Florence’s long-standing tradition of multidisciplinarity.

Art, music and education: collaborations with the Maggio Musicale and the School of Music of Fiesole

The Giardino Musicale is the result of a virtuous alliance between leading Florentine cultural institutions. On the one hand, the collaboration with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino makes available to the public a curated selection of recordings drawn from the historic archive of the opera-symphonic institution, one of the most important in the world.

Visitors to Museo Novecento can choose daily, from a dedicated menu of the day, which pieces to listen to in the courtyard and in the first-floor loggia. The first tracks offered come from the Maggio Live recording series and include the Overture from William Tell by Gioachino Rossini, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune by Claude Debussy, and L’Apprenti sorcier by Paul Dukas, performed by the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the direction of Vittorio Gui.

At the same time, the project takes on a strong educational and production-oriented dimension thanks to the collaboration with the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, an institution internationally recognised for excellence in advanced musical training. Museo Novecento has therefore established a prize for young composers, supported by Tofani Dreams, offering them the opportunity to create original site-specific works conceived for the Glauk Sound system.

Award-winning composers: from right, Diego Medellin, Francesco Sottile, Simona Iuorio, and Lorenzo Fazzini

Award-winning young composers and new sound works

The prize was awarded to four young composers, selected for the quality of their research and for a broad, contemporary vision of the creative process:

• Simona Iuorio with Flow

• Diego Medellín with Zytas Fiba

• Francesco Sottile with ASPIS

• Lorenzo Fazzini with LIFE: A Tale Told by a House Full of Objects

The compositions will be presented and broadcast in the Giardino delle Leopoldine, transforming the courtyard of Museo Novecento into an open creative laboratory for the city, where technology becomes a tool for supporting emerging talent and fostering shared learning.