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Muti Opens Milan’s Opera Prison Theater With Concert on Inmate‑Built “Sea” Instruments

The event advanced a Ravenna Festival initiative that applies music to inmate rehabilitation.

Overview

  • The refurbished venue, named for Don Luigi Pedrollo, reopened on January 11 inside the Milan penitentiary.
  • Violins, cellos and a new harpsichord were built by detainees from wood salvaged from migrant shipwrecks under professional luthiers’ guidance.
  • Muti led the Orchestra Giovanile “Luigi Cherubini,” known as the Orchestra del Mare, with the San Vittore choir performing Va’ pensiero.
  • About 200 of roughly 1,200 inmates attended, selected for engagement in education, work and reintegration programs.
  • Muti cast music as a model for civic harmony and gave an impromptu lesson to a 31-year-old inmate singer, while cultural and public figures signaled ongoing support.