The TICINO MUSICA Festival is an international meeting of young musicians attended every year by hundreds of musicians and singers from all over the world – a fusion of mature artistry and nascent talent. The aim of this cultural event is to pass on the musical tradition to the coming generation through study and performance with established world-class musicians and teachers, thus serving to broaden the cultural horizons and expand the artistic experience of young musicians preparing for their professional life. But TICINO MUSICA is also an important event for tourism in the Italian part of Switzerland and for this reason it is subsidized by the Federal Department of Culture, the municipal and cantonal authorities, as well as by local tourist offices and private individuals. The festival was founded in 1979 and can look back to a long year tradition. It took place in Ticino for the first time in 1997. Over the years, it has enjoyed increasing success and it attracts hundreds of participants between the ages of sixteen and thirty-five from all over the world. Canton Ticino is now its permanent venue. All the teachers are highly qualified and enjoy international recognition in their particular field, and their masterclasses cover voice, operatic music, piano, all orchestra instruments, chamber music, composition and contemporary music up to orchestral level. Young musicians, singers, soloists and ensembles benefit enormously from fresh input and challenges from current music aesthetics, as well as from evaluation of their interpretational technique – as proved by the success of the masterclasses and the number of enthusiastic participants. The unique opportunity of performing in concerts together with established musicians serves to enhance artistic expression and to provide valuable experience. The daily concerts, in which the teachers often perform as soloists, attract large audiences and media coverage.