This year the festival, which traditionally has chamber music at its core, focuses on the influence of master performers on their pupils and the relationship between the two.

To repeat the quote from Benjamin Franklin on the website “Tell me and I forget; teach me and I may remember; involve me and I learn.”

There are four ensembles of young musicians who interact with the master performers. The International Menhuin Academy (based in Switzerland), the UCLA Camarades Emsemble (Los Anglese), the Polyphony Youth Ensemble (from Nazareth which performs in the festival for the first time this year) and the Borromeo String Quartet (Boston) which will play the complete string quartets of Bela Bartok.

The festival which is based at La Foce, one-time home of Iris Origo, also has sections dedicated to the visual arts, history, food and wine.