Forma e Poesia nel Jazz con Antonio Faraò, Stefano Di Battista, Yamandu Costa e Jazzbois

Cagliari once again welcomes the appointment with the Forma e Poesia nel Jazz festival, which from 1 to 4 October—with previews at the end of September and a “follow-up” in November—will celebrate its twenty-ninth edition. Almost thirty years of activity devoted to quality music have made this event one of the longest-running and most recognizable festivals on the Sardinian scene. Over the years, it has also developed as a space for discovering and supporting new talent: many artists who have performed at Forma e Poesia nel Jazz later achieved international recognition, including Stefano Bollani and Matteo Mancuso, while the festival has continued to offer many local musicians a showcase and an opportunity to grow.

Organized by the cooperative of the same name, under the artistic direction of Nicola Spiga, Forma e Poesia nel Jazz continues to view music not merely as entertainment, but as an opportunity and a tool for meeting, discovery and participation. Attention to social and environmental issues, sustainable mobility, new forms of expression, the relationship with the local area and the creation of a sense of community have always been central to the festival’s development.

As always, the heart of the festival will beat in the city, with the central part of the program taking place between the Teatro delle Saline and the Teatro Doglio. Several events will also be held in places of particular interest in the surrounding area and throughout the region.

“Analog Future” is the title chosen for this edition, suggesting a reflection on the need to find a balance between technological connection and human connection, imagining a more authentic, inclusive and sustainable society. This is not a rejection of innovation, but rather the search for a relationship in which technology can serve people without diminishing the value of physical presence, listening and shared experiences. Music, by its very nature, is one of the most suitable fields for this reflection. And music will naturally be at the centre of a program that brings together established artists and new talents, confirming one of the characteristics that has shaped the history of Forma e Poesia nel Jazz over the years.

### Opening on Thursday, 1 October

The opening evening, Thursday, 1 October, will feature two string instruments and two musicians very different in background and training, united by their experience as solo performers. The first to take the stage at the Teatro delle Saline, at 8 p.m., will be Samih Al Madhoun, a young Palestinian musician, singer and oud player. The oud is the traditional Arabic lute. Forced by war to leave his country, where he studied at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, he now lives in Cagliari and continues his studies at the “Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina” Conservatory. Through the oud and his singing, he brings Palestinian music and culture with him, while opening himself up to new musical experiences on the island.

The second set will feature Brazilian musician Yamandu Costa, a virtuoso of the seven-string guitar, a central instrument in the traditions of choro and samba. He began studying it with his father when he was seven years old. Born in 1980, Costa is a highly versatile musician who cannot be identified with a single musical genre: his personal style moves through choro, classical music, milonga, tango, zamba and chamamé. The winner of numerous awards, Yamandu Costa has performed practically all over the world, including as a soloist with major symphony orchestras. Further adding to the interest of his performance will be the expected participation, as a special guest on some pieces, of Simone Onnis, a highly experienced Sardinian guitarist with an international reputation.

The evening of Friday, 2 October, again at the Teatro delle Saline and beginning at 8 p.m., will instead bring together two musical experiences shaped by the cross-pollination of jazz, hip-hop and electronic music. The first set will feature Alsogood, the stage name of Francesco Lo Giudice, a Milan-based keyboardist, producer and multi-instrumentalist whose work moves between improvisation, groove and electronic production. Founder of the trio Figùra, he has released work on major international labels. In 2024 he joined the Island Records roster with *Elsewhere*, a contemporary jazz album that surpassed three million streams, while *1000' Smiles* was released last April. Alsogood will be joined on stage by Alessandro Pollio on keyboards and Pierpaolo Tancredi on drums.

The stage will then belong to the Hungarian trio Jazzbois, based in Budapest and made up of Bencze Molnár (Rhodes and synthesizer), Viktor Sági (bass) and Tamás Czirják (drums). Their music arises from the meeting of jazz improvisation and hip-hop rhythms, with a strong emphasis on live performance. After millions of plays on the main platforms, in 2024 Jazzbois released their fourth album, *Still Blunted*, a return to their beat-tape roots. They have performed on major international stages such as the Montreux Jazz Festival and London’s Jazz Café.

One of the most original and interesting groups on the island’s music scene, Freak Motel, will open the festival’s third evening at the Teatro delle Saline on Saturday, 3 October, at 8 p.m. Active since 2017, the group consists of Andrea Sanna (synthesizer, Rhodes and live electronics), Matteo Sedda (trumpet and live electronics), Andrea Parodo (bass) and Nicola Vacca (drums). They explore the borderland between nu jazz, post-rock, electronic music and contemporary music, combining composition and improvisation in an organic sound that is constantly evolving. After *Escape Room* (2018) and *Freakeinstein* (2022), in 2025 Freak Motel released *Human Codec*, continuing a line of research that treats jazz as a field open to experimentation: theirs is a borderless music, capable of drawing on tradition while looking towards the future.

Next, the spotlight will turn to one of the leading figures in Italian jazz, Antonio Faraò. Born in 1965, the Roman pianist has built an internationally distinguished career, receiving recognition such as the prestigious Concours International de Piano Jazz Martial Solal. He has worked with musicians including Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Benny Golson, Miroslav Vitous and Bireli Lagrène, and has taken part several times in International Jazz Day at the invitation of Herbie Hancock. Among the many albums in his discography, *Eklektik*, released in 2017, marked a turning point in his artistic research, opening it for the first time to electric sounds, rap influences and styles beyond traditional jazz. The project now returns in a new form and with a renewed line-up: alongside Antonio Faraò are Roberta Gentile on vocals, Mauro Capitale on saxophone, rapper Max Mbassadò, Piero Orsini on electric bass and Martino Malacrida on drums.

For the closing evening of the festival’s central section, Sunday, 4 October, the festival will move from the Teatro delle Saline to the Teatro Doglio. The opening, at 7 p.m., will be entrusted to another Sardinian group, the Angiolini Bros. Quartet, led by brothers Andrea and Alessandro Angiolini, pianist and saxophonist respectively, joined by Paolo Cocco on electric and fretless bass and Luigi Sanna on drums. With a fresh, contemporary sound, the quartet offers a repertoire that highlights every instrument, consisting mainly of original, previously unreleased pieces, with a few suitably arranged jazz standards.

The following set will feature further arrangements and another repertoire, as the festival welcomes back another leading name in the national jazz scene: Stefano Di Battista. The Roman saxophonist will present his project *La Dolce Vita* in Cagliari, already captured on the 2024 album of the same name: a jazz reinterpretation of some of the best-known melodies in Italian music and cinema. Di Battista brings to the field of improvisation music written for the screen by Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone and Nicola Piovani, as well as songs by Paolo Conte, Lucio Dalla, Domenico Modugno and Renato Carosone, creating a dialogue between memory and reinterpretation. Stefano Di Battista will be joined at the Teatro Doglio by Matteo Cutello on trumpet, Daniele Sorrentino on bass and double bass, Andrea Rea on piano and Luigi Del Prete on drums.

### Other events

Other guests and events will enliven the four days of Forma e Poesia nel Jazz at the beginning of October. Musician and collector Attilio Berni will return to the festival. One of the leading experts on the saxophone, he has devoted more than thirty years to historical and organological research on the instrument, combining his academic work with concert performances and curatorial activities. Director of the Saxophone Museum in Fiumicino, from 1 to 4 October he will bring to Cagliari an exhibition of thirty saxophones and an equal number of vintage photographs, installed at the Search. The opening of the exhibition will also provide an opportunity to present his book *The Saxophone in Italy: Ingenuity, Production and Cultural Imagination*. In the following days, Attilio Berni will give a series of lecture-performances devoted, naturally, to the instrument.

One of the symbols of the Cagliari metropolitan area, the Molentargius–Saline Regional Nature Park—a wetland of considerable European importance for its landscape and environmental value—will provide the natural setting for a concert at dawn on Friday, 2 October. Accompanying the sunrise will be Nicola Agus, a multi-instrumentalist and virtuoso of the launeddas, an icon of Sardinian music. The Cagliari musician likes to push the instrument beyond the boundaries of tradition, just as he does with the many other instruments in his arsenal, exploring possible combinations of different musical languages and cultures. At the end of his performance, the RTI Molentargius Aperto al Mondo consortium will offer a guided tour of the park.

The following day, Saturday, 3 October, the festival’s customary event at another iconic location in the island capital will be renewed: Sella del Diavolo, the promontory overlooking the Gulf of Cagliari. At 9 a.m., the “Discovering…” trek will set off with environmental hiking guide Stefania Contini. Once it reaches its destination, the trek will be followed by a performance from the gypsy-music duo of guitarists Roberto Massa and Roberto Boi.

As with Attilio Berni, the festival is pleased to welcome back musician, composer and musicologist Enrico Merlin. A scholar and expert on the life and work of Miles Davis, whose birth centenary is being celebrated this year, Merlin will dedicate a series of talks to the great trumpeter on 1 and 2 October, combined with two guided tours: on Thursday, 1 October, to Cagliari’s historic Castello district, departing at 10 a.m., and the following day, Friday, 2 October, as part of the previously mentioned visit to the Molentargius–Saline Regional Nature Park. “Many Miles to Go—In the World of Miles Davis 100 Years After His Birth” is the title of this “multi-stage” narrative, through which Enrico Merlin will retrace the extraordinary artistic journey of the “Prince of Darkness” from the 1940s to the 1980s.

### September previews

As always, the twenty-ninth edition of Forma e Poesia nel Jazz will not be limited to the four days at the beginning of October. Serving as a prelude to the festival’s central section will be a series of events in the city and surrounding areas during the final week of September.

On Friday, 25 September, as part of the European Heritage Days—2026 special openings—the festival will renew its collaboration with the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for Cagliari, Oristano and Southern Sardinia with a concert in the garden of Villa Binaghi, its headquarters on Via Cesare Battisti. Performing from 7 p.m. will be singer and guitarist Simona Severini and double bassist Jacopo Ferrazza. Their artistic partnership began in 2022 and developed rapidly thanks to a natural rapport and a repertoire combining original pieces, reinterpretations of jazz tradition and tributes to authors such as Joni Mitchell.

The partnership with Cagliari’s FIAB—the Italian Federation for the Environment and Cycling—will also continue with the Jazz Bike Ride, scheduled for Saturday, 26 September during the week dedicated to sustainable mobility. The event will consist of a bicycle route through the city accompanied by a roving performance in the streets of the centre by Callejeros Charanga. The group comprises ten musicians, five women and five men, and draws inspiration from 1950s Latin orchestras. Its repertoire combines boleros, guajiras and cha-cha-cha, blending more recent pieces with references to mambo and salsa. The initiative aims to highlight the importance of sustainable mobility and promote cycling as an everyday means of transport.

On Sunday, 27 September, Forma e Poesia nel Jazz will leave the city and travel to Is Concias, in the Sette Fratelli Park, within the territory of Quartucciu, for a morning of music, archaeology and nature. By now a festival classic, the event is organized in collaboration with the Municipality of Quartucciu’s Department of Culture as part of the Arrexinis project. In the peace and greenery of the woods, the program will include an ecological walk led by Stefania Contini, followed by a guided tour, led by archaeologist Patrizia Zuncheddu, of the Is Concias Giants’ Tomb, also known as *sa domu ‘e s’orku*, one of the island’s best-preserved megalithic monuments. Music will then take centre stage with Cagliari pianist, singer and songwriter Veronica Mereu, followed by sound artist Arrogalla and accordionist Pierpaolo Vacca. The outing to Is Concias will conclude with a tasting of local products organized by the Pro Loco of Quartucciu.

Back in the city, the festival will present at 6 p.m. another musical event as part of the European Heritage Days—2026 special openings, this time at the Municipal Art Gallery and in collaboration with Orientare. The performers will be Diego Greco on saxophone and Giovanni Alborghetti on percussion.

### Curtain call in November with Angelo Branduardi and Jeff Lorber

The twenty-ninth edition of Forma e Poesia nel Jazz will not end with the events in September and October. In November, the festival will return to the stage for two particularly important concerts: Angelo Branduardi will perform at the Teatro Massimo on the 11th, followed on the 20th by American pianist and composer Jeff Lorber, a Grammy Award winner.

### Tickets and subscriptions

Ticket prices for the evenings at the Teatro delle Saline and Teatro Doglio range from €27 for the concerts on 2 and 3 October to €30 for the opening concert and the concert on 4 October. A four-evening subscription is also available for €75. Tickets and subscriptions can be purchased at www.boxofficesardegna.it or by calling 070 657428. Holders of festival tickets or subscriptions will receive free admission to Attilio Berni’s exhibition and lecture-performances at the Search. A special €10 ticket for the concerts is available to music-school and conservatory students under 18, by reservation only at 388 38 99 755.

The twenty-ninth edition of Forma e Poesia nel Jazz is organized by the cooperative of the same name with support from the Autonomous Region of Sardinia—through the Departments of Education, Entertainment, Sport and Cultural Heritage, and Tourism, Commerce and Crafts—the Municipality of Cagliari’s Department of Culture, and the Sardinia Foundation.
Web: www.formaepoesianeljazz.com