All’Aria

Bologna, year 2023.
253 years after the stay of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
A young woman is drinking a coffee and listening to the song "Bologna" by Wanda in a bar in the city centre. Suddenly she hears different music, so she takes off her headphones to listen where the music is coming from. She realises that the music is not being played in the bar and goes outside. The woman lets herself be driven by the music through the streets of Bologna until she reaches a special place...

The project "Mozart in Bologna" by Paolo Santoro consists of the production of the short film "All'Aria". It is shot in Bologna, the city where W.A. Mozart lived in 1770 and passed the exam to become a member of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna.

The idea behind the project is to trace some of the places where Mozart was between March and October 1770. However, the short film is not intended to be a documentary about Mozart in Bologna, but to create a new image of Mozart's music. Bologna is seen as an old and modern city. There are historical places in a modern time. The music takes place outside the usual setting, the traditional concert halls or the classical theatre. Like street music, the music takes place outside, in the air (all'aria), in the street, under the arcades (Portici of Bologna UNESCO World Heritage Site), in the city. For this, the aria "Deh vieni alla Finestra" is performed in a "street music" setting for voice (baritone), mandolin and guitar. Traditional music is in an unconventional setting because innovation comes from a new way of looking at tradition. Hence the double meaning of the title of the short film "All'Aria": Aria as a piece of music and Aria (air) as the open space in which the music is located.