The Band of Testaccio Popular School of Music
Rome (Italy)

The Testaccio Band was born in Rome in 1977 by initiative of a group of students and teachers from the Popular School of Music of Testaccio, a quarter of Rome. Since the beginning it started to operate inside and outside the school, all over the Rome territory, with exhibitions indoor and in the open: squares, from Piazza di Spagna to Campo de Fiori; parks, from Gianicolo to Villa Borghese.
The Band has been often recognised by the Rome Municipality due to its several performances in support to cultural initiatives and has been involved in big events as for example the first "New Year’s Eve Concert" in Piazza del Popolo or the bi-centennial celebration of the French Revolution in Piazza Navona. In addition, the band was often invited to appear in popular television programs. According to its tradition, the band contributes freely to social and human-oriented programs, performing in schools, hospitals, prisons, and marching along with demonstrations in support of peace, human and civil rights.
The prestige and reputation of the Testaccio Band also comes from its several tours, in Italy and other European countries. At the Geneva (Switzerland) Festival de la Batie, a program of patriotic, anarchic and revolutionary songs, spreading through the eighteen and nineteen centuries, was presented jointly with the Giovanna Marini Choir. In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem a compilation of traditional pieces from all over the world was played. Both programs being selected and specially arranged by the actual maestro Silverio Cortesi.
The Testaccio Band accounts currently for more than 40 members, from 15 to 75 years old, mostly students and amateurs but also some professionals. It is an atypical band with a strong presence of saxes, for example, or for the Latin-American rhythmic section. Jazz, classic and popular music, marches and opera pieces are played as well, according to a mix at the edge between a traditional band, an orchestra and a Big Band.
The Testaccio Band is a self managing, non-profit organization, where musicians elect yearly the president and the managing board, and membership is open to everybody able to play an instrument. Applicants spend one year practicing before being nominated as effective members. Some of the more than 100 pieces of the repertory of the Testaccio Band are recorded in several compact disks produced so far: "Lezioni in studio" (1998), "Fogli volanti" (2000), "Azzurro Mediterraneo" (2004) and "Nostra Patria è il mondo intero" (2005).