Aosta Valley, Italy
The Symphonic Taxi Orchestra is an inclusive orchestra, made up of people with disabilities, teachers, students and professionals, which made its debut in the Aosta Valley in 2018, born from an idea by Marco Giovinazzo and Paolo Salomone
«The orchestra was born for young people with disabilities», explains Giovinazzo, “it has become to all intents and purposes a project that wants to grow by extending itself to all musicians, from Aosta Valley and not, who want to have an inclusive experience, where music is a pretext to be together and to work on many fronts».
All the members participate in the project as volunteers: “The message we want to get across is that it is an open orchestra, where everyone can ask to play; the staff is truly heterogeneous and sees the students of the laboratory ‘Suono anch’io’ – from the disability department of the School of Musical Training and Orientation of the Valle d’Aosta – teachers of the SFOM and the Istituto Musicale Pareggiato of the Valle d’Aosta , volunteers of APS Tamtando, recent graduates and students of different music schools. The concept is that the amateur orchestra is just as important as the professional orchestra. We have the dream of making musicians understand that being part of this orchestra should not be an alternative to a professional career, but a parallel experience” (Marco Giovinazzo)
The STO has been invited to various schools to bear witness to a virtuous model of inclusion and enhancement of people with disabilities. «Especially when we go outside the Valley, we are also invited to offer a concert to the students to show how music brings benefits to everyone and how it is possible to be on the same stage with different skills. It is not a project that wants to have a low profile: through the musical and emotional sphere, which pushes us to overcome some limits, we have in some respects achieved very important results compared to the initial premises». (Mark Solomon)
“Even the families are happy and enthusiastic about the project, because it is a healthy way for their children to spend their free time and grow up being in the orchestra, learning the rules and making sure they arrive prepared for rehearsals. Even for professional musicians it is a lesson in enthusiasm: many times those who are part of this world experience the orchestra as a job or a way to pay for their studies, instead here there is sharing and we are all together and all the same, leaving the classic orchestral hierarchy. we help each other and we also make ourselves available to distort the scores in rehearsal, if the situation requires it: in the world of music this is fundamental, for a more open and freer approach to music, even towards different genres». (Marco Giovinazzo)
