THE MANDOLIN COMMUNITY

VENICE MANDOLIN FESTIVAL

Welcome to Venice with your orchestra

or as an individual player and play in

Venice Mandolin Festival Orchestra

VENICE "LA SERENISSIMA" - ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES

VENICE MANDOLIN FESTIVAL / THE MANDOLIN COMMUNITY
We are a non-commercial organization. We organise a mandolin festival in Venice, Italy 1st - 9th of May 2027 only for orchestras and The Venice Mandolin Festival Orchestra. Come whenever you want, 1st - 5th or 6th - 9th of May 2027. Of course you can stay the whole period 1st - 9th of May. THE VENICE MANDOLIN FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA 2027 is open for everybody. Part 1 with Maxine Rizzotto as conductor 1st - 5th of May. Part 2 with Laura Engelmann as conductor 6th - 9th of May 2027. 

THE VENICE MANDOLIN FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA - REHEARSALS & CONCERTS IN VENICE

with Maxine Rizzotto and Laura Engelmann - Conductors. The Venice Mandolin Festival Orchestra is open to anyone who likes to play in a mandolin and guitar orchestra. In the first section 1-5 May 2027, Maxine Rizzotto will conduct and rehearse with the orchestra. The idea is to play music by Yasuo Kuwahara, Lars Forslund, Olof Näslund and Keith Harris. In the second section 6-9 May 2027, Laura Engelmann will conduct and rehearse with the orchestra. We have not yet decided on the repertoire, but it will be shown on our website in the future. Since we are in Venice, the repertoire will include music by Antonio Vivaldi, of course.

THE MANDOLIN COMMUNITY IN SWEDEN AND ITALY

We have over 40 years of experience in organising concerts, concert tours and festivals. Our years of international experience have given us the expertise we need to confidently organise and manage concerts, seminars and master classes.

THE VENICE MANDOLIN FESTIVAL INVITES

Music lovers and amateur players of mandolin, mandola and guitar of all levels, mandolin & guitar orchestras and professional conductors from all over the world to enjoy great music and art in Venice in the spring 2027. Please spend a little time to read this website or contact us for more information.

DO YOU AND YOUR MANDOLIN ORCHESTRA WANT TO PLAY IN ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES?

Please,  come to Venice and play concerts in churches and palaces! Or play in a big mandolin orchestra, The Venice Mandolin Festival Orchestra (VMFO). In the spring of 2027, we will re-open a unique Mandolin Festival in Venice for everyone who loves playing mandolin, mandola and guitar. Venice Mandolin Festival invites mandolin orchestras from all over the world to exchange concerts and cultural exchanges between different countries. Do you want to take part in this exciting mandolin project and create international friendships and powerful musical experiences? In that case, contact us and we will tell you more about how this festival works. Everyone is welcome to join this friendly and fine musical community!

COME YOURSELF OR WITH YOUR ENTIRE ORCHESTRA!

We turn to regular mandolin orchestras with a conductor, who wants to conduct and perform his / her own program, for example Vivaldi's mandolin concertos or a free choice of repertory, with his / her own orchestra, in a concert in The Venice Mandolin Festival. We also arrange concerts in The Venice Mandolin Festival with a project mandolin orchestra consisting of individual mandolin, mandola and guitar players, small groups or merged orchestras. These are individual players, small groups or orchestras who rehearse before the various concerts and the players vary from time to time. The project orchestra, here called - Venice Mandolin Festival Orchestra- is open to everyone, but driving skills and good music reading skills are required. You practice on your own or with your group or orchestra before you are coming to Venice. Joint rehearsals will be held in Venice by two professional conductors.

THE AIM OF THE MANDOLIN COMMUNITY

We will be a powerful force in raising awareness of the mandolin and its music, and in reaching a general audience not just confined to insiders. It is time for our beautiful instrument to reclaim the status it formerly enjoyed as part of normal musical life. The MANDOLIN COMMUNITY will contribute in many ways, including building bridges to players and singers from the established music scene. This ensures the best possible performance quality and also adds an important social dimension.

WE ARE PROGRESSIVE AND OPEN-MINDED

Our activities are open to everyone, from the beginner to the professional performer. Everybody can benefit from our experience, contacts and expertise. Our progressive approach keeps us up to date with the larger international concert scene.

Lars Forslund

on behalf of the Venice Mandolin Festival Team

Important information!

CAMERATA MANDOLINO CLASSICO PLAYS HÄNDEL

LAPPONIA SUITE - MUSIC BY LARS FORSLUND

ABOUT US - CAMERATA MANDOLINO CLASSICO

has received international recognition as a skilled interpreter of Venetian baroque music. The ensemble has made numerous and extensive tours in Japan, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Sweden.

COLLABORATION WITH PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS

Our musicians and singers are active in various symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, baroque ensembles and opera houses including La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice and at the Gothenburg Opera, as well as in the orchestras Venice Baroque and L'Offerta Musicale in Venice.

OUR CONCERTS

has been critically acclaimed and hugely appreciated by standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience.

MANDOLIN PLAYING IN SWEDISH TV 1982

Lars Forslund founded Sweden's first international mandolin festival at Visingsö in Sweden 1982. At the festival he made a recording with the mandolin and guitar orchestra Musica Festiva. Music by Vivaldi from the disc became the theme song of SVT's Italian language course “Buon giorno Italia”. Lars was mandolin soloist at the Venice Carnival 2016 and cicerone, along with Ann Lundberg, in a popular television program by SVT.

THE VENICE MANDOLIN FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA - REHEARSAL 2023

KEITH HARRIS
has been involved with the mandolin for very many years. Between giving lessons for pocket money at the age of twelve in Sydney (Australia) to holding a commission at the Music University in Heidelberg (Germany) thirty years later and concertising and giving seminars and master classes all over the world, there isn’t much he hasn’t done. Keith conducted The Venice Mandolin Orchestra in 2023.

MAXINE RIZZOTTO

lives between Venice and Milan. Maxine is both pianist and harpsichordist. Among other things, she coaches opera students at the conservatory in Milan and mandolin students at the conservatory in Brescia. She was conductor of The Venice Mandolin Orchestra in 2022. Maxine has been a member of the Camerata Mandolino Classico since 2015, and apart from performing with the Ensemble in Italy and Sweden, now speaks excellent Swedish.

LARS FORSLUND

Lars Forslund is Artistic Director of the Vivaldi Festival in Venice and Sweden. He and Keith Harris have been close friends since 1982, and have collaborated on countless musical projects, most recently concerts and seminars within The Mandolin Academy in Venice. Lars lived in Rome as a child, studied Italian in Florence and since 1998 divides his time between Scandinavia and Italy.

JAPAN AND THE MANDOLIN

In the 80s and 90s, Lars spent much time working with Yasuo Kuwahara in Japanese Kobe - and incidentally learning good Japanese. Their longstanding association included regular plucked string projects between Japan and Sweden. The friendship was cemented in 1983, when they both played in the Deutsche Zupforchester, directed by Siegfried Behrend and with Takashi Ochi as concertmaster.

THE MANDOLIN GAME

"The Mandolin Game by Keith Harris is one of the most important books ever written on the mandolin” says Prof. Margo from Boston University. Prof. Margo also says that every mandolin player should have it and use it.

Now available as download.

Listen to the radio interview Keith gave when he was in Australia a few months ago. Apart from the talk, you hear him playing and also conducting his own music and music by our mutual friend Yasuo Kuwahara.

LAURA ENGELMANN
lives and works as a mandolinist and music teacher in Hanover, Germany. In 2025, she completed her mandolin studies with a Master of Music degree under Prof. Caterina Lichtenberg. She also studied guitar and elementary music education as her two main subjects. In 2021, she won first prize at the renowned Yasuo Kuwahara International Competition for solo mandolin. She has received further awards at competitions such as “Jugend musiziert” and chamber music competitions. She received several scholarships during her studies. In addition to her solo and chamber music activities, she works as a lecturer and conductor for various plucked string orchestras, is regularly invited to seminars throughout Germany, and serves as a juror at competitions. She currently conducts the Zupforchester Niedersachsen and the Landeszupforchester Nord. She is chairwoman of the Bundesjugendzupforchester and volunteers as federal music director in the Association Bund Deutscher Zupfmusiker.

LAURA ENGELMANN

Learn more about her on her website

LAURA ENGELMANN PLAYS - RAFFAELE CALACE - PRELUDIO NO 2

LAURA ENGELMANN PLAYS - CARL FRIEDRICH ABEL - FANTASIA

LAURA ENGELMANN & LUKAS KATTER - MUSIC BY CALACE

ZUPFORCHESTER NIEDERSACHSEN PLAYS - TAKASHI YUASA

CONTACT US ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

Concerts, Café Concerts & Opera around Venice and the Lagoon 2027

INFORMATION

The concert program for the concerts 2027 has not been determined.

Please come back to our website later! Feel free to contact us

with questions about the festival 2027!

Please contact us for any questions!

* * *

REGISTRATION

Please contact us to register your interest. Later you can register your orchestra for the concert activities or register as an individual participant in Venice Mandolin Festival Orchestra (VMFO).

TRAVELLING, TRANSPORTATION AND ACCOMODATION

We recommend that you visit websites about travelling to Venice, transportation in Venice (vaporetto), accommodation - hotels, apartments etc. in Venice. Everything remains in your hands, and you pay directly to them.

CANCELLETION OF THE FESTIVAL

If there are too few participants, the entire festival will be cancelled.

IN CASE OF FORCE MAJEURE - THE VENICE MANDOLIN FESTIVAL / THE MANDOLIN COMMUNITY

ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE AND OBLIGATED TO REFUND YOUR COSTS

Examples of what constitutes force majeure for the event. Common examples include: Natural disasters: Extreme weather, floods or earthquakes. Government decisions: Bans on public gatherings, restrictions or changes in legislation. Civil disturbances: War, terrorism, riots or strikes. Health: Pandemics or epidemics. Technical obstacles: General power outages or total breakdown of communications that are beyond our control.

CAMERATA MANDOLINO CLASSICO PLAYS ON YOUTUBE

YOTUBE CHANNEL

Here you can see and listen to our videos.

Music by Vivaldi, Bach, Scarlatti,

Mozart and Beethoven and 

French Baroque Music.

CONTACT US

VIVALDI FESTIVAL

Don't hesitate to ask! We'll be happy to answer all your questions!

MAXINE RIZZOTTO & LARS FORSLUND

INFORMATION

SVENSKA

Här når du oss! Ring eller skriv till oss! Vi svarar på dina frågor så fort vi kan.

Ibland är vi på turné och då kan svaren dröja lite längre, men vi svarar.

ENGLISH

Here you can reach us! Call or write to us! We will answer your questions as soon as we can.

Sometimes we are on tour and then the answers may take a little longer, but we answer.

ITALIANO

Qui puoi raggiungerci! Chiamaci o scrivici! Risponderemo alle tue domande il prima possibile.

A volte siamo in tour e poi le risposte possono richiedere un po 'più di tempo, ma rispondiamo.