On the first day, Friday 26th the congress activity was centred around the Chamber of Commerce and the
Town Hall, which is adjacent. On the left hand side of the building, as you face the front of the Chamber of Commerce, was the Consortium of the Violin makers on the corner. Along the lane on the left hand side is the entrance to Sala Maffei where the afternoon presentations took place.
Opposite the registration office is the Town Hall and from the inner courtyard there was a monumental staircase which leads up to the halls which will be used for the presidents’ meeting in the afternoon and the inaugural concert and welcoming reception, offered by the Town Council, in the early evening. An exhibition of violin makers was set up in the main entrance hall from 26th April until the evening of 30th. The main piazzas around the Town Hall, piazza Stradivari, piazza della Pace and piazza del Comune were overtaken by stalls and stands of the street market held on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.
The botanical street fair “Le Invasioni Botaniche” was taking place in the centre of town on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th. Bojan Cvetreznik and The Slovenian Fiddle Gang were providing the music in installations and around the streets.
On Saturday morning, the main Congress activity moved across to the Amati Pavilion in the Museo del Violino.
Coffee breaks were provided each morning and afternoon during the congress in the San Vitale Cultural Centre, situated just behind the Museo, where other exhibitors can also be found.
In the early afternoon the concert by the Little String Orchestra, was at Cittanova, the second medieval Town Hall of Cremona, a short walk along a pedestrian street lined with flower stalls for the fair. The afternoon programme was continuee at the Amati Pavilion with a workshop by Aleksey Igudesman, in preparation for Sunday’s event, and with presentations in Sala Maffei at the Chamber of Commerce. Just before lunchtime each day there were concerts by students of the prestigious Stauffer Foundation courses in the Sala della Consulta in the Town Hall.
The evening concerts on 27th, 29th and 30th were held in the beautiful auditorium of the Museo del Violino.
On Sunday morning there was the delegates’ meeting in the Town Hall and Franz Klanner was reveal string secrets for optimising your performance in Sala Maffei. The starting time of the midday concert in the Town Hall will be anticipated to 11.15. The rest of the afternoon has been given over to 1001 Strings of the World in piazza del Comune, with Aleksey Igudesman. Due to of rain, the event was held in the Cathedral which faces onto the piazza del Comune.

The directress of the Civic Museums was kindly offered free entry to visit Cremona’s Civic Museums to all congress members and reduced rates to anyone accompanying them. The museums included are the Natural History Museum, the Art Gallery “Ala Ponzone” with the unmissable Caravaggio, St. Francis in Meditation and the amazing Arcimboldo The Vegetable Gardener, and the small but exquisite archeological museum at San Lorenzo.

The complete programme of the conference was the website: www.cremonaconference2019.estaitalia.org

summarized after
Jill Comerford, ESTA Italia president