Paolo Fresu, Christmas Songs at Auditorium Parco della Musica, December 12, 2026

Paolo Fresu brings Christmas Songs to Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone on Saturday, December 12, 2026 at 20:00, in Sala Sinopoli, at Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30 (00196 Rome). On stage a trio: Fresu on trumpet, flugelhorn and effects, Daniele di Bonaventura on bandoneon and effects, Leila Shirvani on cello. You get there on metro line A to Flaminio and then tram 2 (stops Flaminia/Reni or Apollodoro), or on bus 910 from Termini. Tickets start at 30 euros, according to the official event page, and are bought from the Auditorium's website, which links to the presale network authorized by the organizers, or at the complex's ticket office.

Christmas Songs is the Christmas concert of the Sardinian trumpeter: a repertoire that brings together the traditional Christmas songs of Sardinia, written in 1927 by a parish priest of Berchidda, and the American standards sung by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, from White Christmas to The Christmas Song. The project was born in December 2012 in Sassari and, in the presentation signed by Fresu himself, is his way of putting to music the feelings and memories of childhood. In Sala Sinopoli it arrives in the most intimate lineup, as a trio.

Paolo Fresu in Rome: date, time and tickets

Paolo Fresu's Christmas Songs concert is scheduled for Saturday, December 12, 2026 at 20:00 in Sala Sinopoli, according to the official page of Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, which places it in the Fondazione Musica per Roma's Jazz program.

The price

The event page lists tickets starting at 30 euros. The map of Sala Sinopoli's sections, with orchestra and galleries, and the corresponding rates appear at the time of purchase.

Where to buy

The Auditorium's official site links, from the purchase button, to the authorized presale network. The complex's ticket office is at Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30. From October to March the site lists hours from 11:00 to 20:00, including Sundays and holidays. The ticket office rules are published on the site: tickets bought on unauthorized secondary platforms may not be valid.

A Saturday concert

December 12 is a Saturday, in the heart of the Christmas season. A Christmas concert by a name like Fresu, in a hall of a little over a thousand seats, is an easy gift to give. Anyone thinking of buying tickets for others will do well not to wait for the last weeks.

Christmas Songs: how the project was born

Christmas Songs was born in December 2012, when Paolo Fresu was asked for a concert for the Christmas period in the city of Sassari. The initial idea was to add a few Christmas pieces to the usual repertoire, but, Fresu himself tells in the official presentation, the Christmas theme immediately took over the whole program.

Two worlds

The heart of the project is the meeting of two distant worlds. On one side the songs of the Sardinian tradition, which Fresu heard as a child in Berchidda. On the other the American songs that arrived with television, the voices of Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé and Bing Crosby. Two different worlds, Fresu writes, united by beautiful songs: popular the Sardinian ones, just as popular those of White Christmas or Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

The third and fourth paths

Alongside these two paths, the presentation names others: the songs that tell of the reindeer that set out from the lands of the North to bring gifts to children, and those that the Christmas star carries with it all over the world. In the concert they are represented, among others, by Till Bethlehem and Joy to the World. Everyone's Christmas is different, Fresu concludes, but the sense of happiness and sharing is the same on every continent.

An intimate trio

For the project Fresu chose a more intimate lineup: a trio with Daniele di Bonaventura on bandoneon and Leila Shirvani on cello. Trumpet, bandoneon and cello are three instruments that breathe, and in a hall like the Sinopoli you hear them almost as in a living room.

The repertoire: from the Cantones de Nadale to White Christmas

The Christmas Songs repertoire joins very well-known Christmas pieces and less famous melodies that are, according to Fresu, of extraordinary interest. Many come from the Cantones de Nadale, the Christmas songs written in December 1927 by the Berchidda parish priest and man of letters Pietro Casu together with canon Agostino Sanna of Ozieri.

The Cantones de Nadale

The Cantones de Nadale, Fresu writes, have been performed ever since throughout Sardinia. Among the melodies he recalls are Notte de chelu and In sa notte profundha, sung by the Berchidda choir and by all the faithful on the night of the Missa 'e puddhos, the Christmas night mass. It's a repertoire few know outside the island, and which the concert brings to Rome.

The American standards

The other half of Fresu's Christmas is the American one: White Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, The Christmas Song. These are the pieces of the voices of Sinatra, Tormé and Crosby, and of the television that in the musician's childhood years brought the American dream to Sardinia, the Walt Disney cartoons, the big decorated trees.

Till Bethlehem and Joy to the World

Among the songs the presentation explicitly cites are also Till Bethlehem and Joy to the World, which represent the Christmas of the star and of shared joy. The full setlist for the evening isn't published.

The musicians: Daniele di Bonaventura and Leila Shirvani

The Christmas Songs trio is made up of Paolo Fresu on trumpet, flugelhorn and effects, Daniele di Bonaventura on bandoneon and effects, and Leila Shirvani on cello.

Daniele di Bonaventura

The bandoneon player Daniele di Bonaventura is a longtime companion of Fresu's. His name already appears in Jazzy Christmas, the Christmas record Fresu released with his quintet in November 2013 on Tŭk Music, and in Mistico Mediterraneo, recorded for ECM in 2011 with A Filetta. In the trio, the bandoneon is the instrument that bridges the trumpet's melody and the cello's low register.

Leila Shirvani

The cellist Leila Shirvani is described by Fresu as the absolute winner of over 30 national and international competitions, a historic collaborator of Giovanni Sollima and Enrico Melozzi, already at his side on some occasions and a protagonist of record projects on his label, including Lumina. Fresu speaks of the extraordinary beauty of her angelic sound.

Trumpet, flugelhorn and effects

Fresu plays trumpet and flugelhorn and uses electronic effects, as does di Bonaventura: the trio is therefore not an only acoustic lineup, and the electronics let three musicians widen the sound space well beyond their number.

Who Paolo Fresu is: the biography

Paolo Fresu is an Italian trumpeter, flugelhorn player, composer and writer, born in Berchidda, in Sardinia, on February 10, 1961. He is one of the best-known Italian jazz musicians in the world, with a discography of dozens of albums as leader and coleader.

From the Berchidda band to the conservatory

He begins studying music at 11 in the Bernardo De Muro band of Berchidda. Moved to Sassari, he attends the Luigi Canepa conservatory and discovers jazz. In 1982 he begins his professional activity with Rai recordings conducted by Bruno Tommaso and with the Siena Jazz seminars. In 1984 he graduates in trumpet at the Cagliari conservatory with maestro Enzo Morandini.

The collaborations

Over the years he works on projects that mix jazz, ethnic music, world music, contemporary, popular and early music. Among the collaborations are Alice, Farafina, Trilok Gurtu, Michael Nyman, Negramaro, Evan Parker, Gunther Schuller, Stadio, Ornella Vanoni and Peter Gabriel. He has been a guest of great orchestras, from the French Orchestre National de Jazz to the Hamburg radio orchestra, from the Italian Instabile Orchestra to the orchestra of Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Time in Jazz and the organization

Since 1988 he has organized and directed in Berchidda Time in Jazz, an annual festival that has become international in stature. He was artistic director of the Nuoro Jazz Seminars from 1989 to 2013 and of Bergamo Jazz from 2009 to 2011. In 2010 he founded the label Tŭk Music.

The records

The Paolo Fresu Quintet was born in the eighties and spans four decades, from Ostinato in 1985 to Legacy. Alongside are the Devil Quartet, the duets with Uri Caine, Kind of Porgy and Bess, Tempo di Chet with Dino Rubino and Marco Bardoscia, Ferlinghetti in 2022 and Kind of Miles in 2024, a finalist at the Prix Europa in 2026. Among the coleaders, Richard Galliano and Jan Lundgren in the Mare Nostrum series, Ralph Towner, Omar Sosa.

Cinema and recognition

He has written music for cinema: the Nastro d'argento in 2004 for L'isola by Costanza Quatriglio, the David di Donatello nomination for Centochiodi by Ermanno Olmi, the Ciak d'oro in 2015 for Torneranno i prati. He received honorary degrees from the University of Milano-Bicocca in 2013 and from the Berklee College of Music in 2015, and many jazz critics' awards in Italy and France.

Recent years

In November 2025 he played, as she herself had requested, at Ornella Vanoni's funeral in the church of San Marco in Milan. The documentary Tutta vita by Valentina Cenni, dedicated to him, was presented out of competition at the 20th Rome Film Festival in 2025, and was released in theaters on April 1, 2026.

A curiosity about Paolo Fresu, Christmas Songs at Auditorium Parco della Musica, December 12, 2026

The nicest curiosity about Christmas Songs is in its origins, and it lies entirely in a town of a few thousand inhabitants. The Cantones de Nadale that Fresu plays in concert were written in December 1927 by Pietro Casu, parish priest and man of letters of Berchidda, together with canon Agostino Sanna of Ozieri. Berchidda is Fresu's hometown, the same one where since 1988 he has organized Time in Jazz. The trumpeter who has played in the great halls of the world brings to Rome the songs written by the parish priest of his town, the ones he heard as a child.

The second curiosity comes from the memories Fresu himself tells in the presentation: on the night of the Missa 'e puddhos it often snowed outside, in the houses the fireplaces were lit, and the little lambs with the red ribbon given to children by the shepherds waited for the faithful's return from mass. Fresu, then, was one of the altar boys who served that special mass. The Christmas concert of one of Italy's most international jazz musicians is born from there.

The third concerns the Auditorium. The documentary Tutta vita, dedicated to Fresu, was presented at the 2025 Rome Film Festival, the event that since 2006 has been based in this very complex. And among the orchestras Fresu has played with is that of Auditorium Parco della Musica too: on December 12 he returns to a house he knows.

Sala Sinopoli at Auditorium Parco della Musica

Sala Sinopoli is one of the three big halls of Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone and has 1,133 seats. It was the first to open, on April 21, 2002, the birthday of Rome, together with Sala Petrassi. Sala Santa Cecilia was inaugurated on December 21 of the same year.

The right size for a trio

A little over a thousand seats is a size suited to a trio of acoustic instruments with effects: big enough for the atmosphere of a Christmas concert, intimate enough that you hear the details of the bandoneon and the cello. Orchestra and galleries stay close to the stage.

Giuseppe Sinopoli, the name of the hall

The hall bears the name of Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor and composer, permanent conductor of Santa Cecilia, among those who fought hardest for Rome to have a hall built for music. The Auditorium's acoustic design was handled by Jürgen Reinhold of the Müller-BBM firm in Munich.

The complex

For the full history of Renzo Piano's complex, its halls and the cavea, there is the listing on Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Something nobody tells you about Paolo Fresu, Christmas Songs at Auditorium Parco della Musica, December 12, 2026

What few people say is that Christmas Songs is a Christmas concert without a voice. Anyone expecting White Christmas sung will find the melody entrusted to the trumpet or the flugelhorn, with the bandoneon and the cello acting as chorus. That's exactly what makes the project different from the many Christmas concerts of the season: the songs everyone knows become instrumental, and are heard with new ears.

Second thing rarely said: part of the repertoire will be unknown to almost the entire Roman audience. Pietro Casu's Cantones de Nadale are songs of the Sardinian tradition, famous on the island and almost unknown outside. Alongside Joy to the World and The Christmas Song, the concert offers melodies many will hear for the first time: a discovery, more than a refresher.

Third point, a practical one: at the Auditorium the halls are separate volumes, each with its own entrance. On a December Saturday the complex is very busy, and bars and coat checks get crowded in the half hour before the start. Anyone who arrives at the last minute and takes the wrong path between the cavea and the foyers easily loses five minutes.

The advice I give you for visiting Paolo Fresu, Christmas Songs at Auditorium Parco della Musica, December 12, 2026

The advice is to come to the concert with at least one of the two halves of the repertoire in your head. Whoever knows the American standards should listen to something from the Sardinian tradition. Whoever doesn't know Jazzy Christmas, Fresu's 2013 Christmas record with Daniele di Bonaventura, should listen to it beforehand: it's the closest precedent to what you'll hear in Sala Sinopoli.

The second piece of advice concerns the seat. For an acoustic trio the central orchestra is the safest choice: you see di Bonaventura's hands on the bandoneon and Shirvani's bow, and the sound of the effects arrives balanced. The front galleries give an overall view and generally cost less.

The third concerns the evening. The concert is on a Saturday at 20:00: it's best to arrive at the Auditorium around 19:15, take a turn around the lit cavea, get something at the foyer bar and go into the hall without hurry. After the concert, Ponte Milvio is a few minutes away for a Saturday night dinner, to be booked.

How to get to the Auditorium for Paolo Fresu

Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone is reached by tram 2, stops Flaminia/Reni or Apollodoro, and by buses 910, 53, 982 and 168. The nearest metro station is Flaminio, on line A.

Metro A and tram 2

From Flaminio station you exit onto Piazzale Flaminio and take tram 2 along Via Flaminia. Get off at Flaminia/Reni or at Apollodoro and walk a few minutes through the Villaggio Olimpico to the entrance.

The 910 from Termini

Bus 910 leaves from Piazza dei Cinquecento, in front of Termini station, and stops in front of the Auditorium without changes. The 53 connects Piazza Mancini with the center, the 982 comes from Quattro Venti station, the 168 from Tiburtina station. On Saturdays it's best to check the times on the Atac route planner.

By car and the return

The complex has a paid internal car park, with limited spaces, and on Saturday nights the streets of the Villaggio Olimpico fill up early. After the concert tram 2 takes you back to Piazzale Flaminio. Alternatively, a taxi booked a few minutes before the end.

Another well-known fact, and yet rarely mentioned

It's well known that Paolo Fresu is one of the best-loved Italian jazz musicians, and that his trumpet and flugelhorn sound is recognizable from the first note. Less often remembered is how far his work goes beyond the stage: for almost 40 years he has organized a festival in his hometown, Time in Jazz in Berchidda. He directed the Nuoro Jazz Seminars for almost a quarter of a century. He founded a label, Tŭk Music. He has written books, from Musica dentro for Feltrinelli to a children's story about little Paulu.

In 2013 the University of Milano-Bicocca conferred an honorary degree in psychology on him, with a citation recognizing his work for culture in the communities of his land and the original link between jazz and Sardinian popular culture. It's the same link Christmas Songs brings to the stage: the Cantones de Nadale of a Berchidda parish priest alongside American standards.

The third fact concerns cinema. Besides being a musician, Fresu is the author of award-winning scores: the Nastro d'argento for L'isola in 2004, the David nomination for Centochiodi by Ermanno Olmi, the Ciak d'oro for Torneranno i prati in 2015. The sound that will bring Christmas songs to Sala Sinopoli is the same one that has told Italian cinema.

The right photo to take at Paolo Fresu, Christmas Songs at Auditorium Parco della Musica, December 12, 2026

You don't take photos during the concert: in a silent hall, with an acoustic trio and the nuances of the effects, the glow of a screen disturbs anyone seated behind. The right photo is taken before or after, outside.

The subject is Renzo Piano's Auditorium, with the big lead-clad shells of the halls around the cavea. In December, at 19:00, it's already dark, and the lit halls against the dark sky give the most recognizable image of a concert evening. The best spot is the cavea, the tiered square at the center of the complex.

The second photo is the hall before the start, from your own seat: three chairs, a bandoneon, a cello, the trumpet and the flugelhorn resting, the effects pedalboards. In a trio concert the empty stage is already a portrait of the evening. Then the phone goes off.

Some important events that happened here in history

The Auditorium area has a much older history than the complex. During the excavations for the foundations, the remains of a Roman villa of the 3rd century BC emerged, built on the site of a small archaic farm of the 6th century BC. Renzo Piano had to modify the project. The finds are displayed in a small museum under the cavea.

The modern story begins with a demolition. In 1936 the Augusteo hall, Rome's great concert hall, was torn down, and for over 60 years Rome was left without an auditorium built for music. In 1992 the city council chose the Villaggio Olimpico area, and in 1993 Renzo Piano won the invitation-only competition.

On April 21, 2002, the birthday of Rome, Sala Sinopoli and Sala Petrassi were inaugurated. On December 21 of the same year, Sala Santa Cecilia. Since 2003 the Auditorium has been home to the season of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, since 2006 it has hosted the Rome Film Festival, and in 2020 it was named after Ennio Morricone. In the meantime it has become one of the homes of jazz in the city, with the autumn Roma Jazz Festival, in which this year Fresu presents Kind of Lives on November 1, also in Sala Sinopoli.

Who has passed through Paolo Fresu, Christmas Songs at Auditorium Parco della Musica, December 12, 2026

Since day one the Auditorium has seen the big names of classical music: the inaugural concert of Sala Santa Cecilia was conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Goffredo Petrassi wanted to be present at the opening of the hall that bears his name, Luciano Berio gave his name to the cavea. Alongside classical music, the Fondazione Musica per Roma has brought Italian and international jazz here. In the same autumn Kurt Elling with the Yellowjackets, Steve Coleman with the Five Elements and Hamilton de Holanda with Gonzalo Rubalcaba pass through the complex's halls, and the day before Fresu, at Teatro Studio, Giovanni Tommaso with the Orchestra Nazionale Jazz Giovani Talenti, which dedicated one of its tributes to Fresu.

Musicians of every genre have passed through Paolo Fresu's career: Uri Caine, Ralph Towner, Richard Galliano, Jan Lundgren, Omar Sosa, Dhafer Youssef, Nguyên Lê, Trilok Gurtu, Michael Nyman, Evan Parker, Gunther Schuller, Enrico Rava, Gianluigi Trovesi, Dino Rubino, Marco Bardoscia. And in song, Alice, Ornella Vanoni, Negramaro, Stadio, Peter Gabriel, Niccolò Fabi, Daniele Silvestri and Max Gazzè.

On the evening of December 12, in Sala Sinopoli, Daniele di Bonaventura and Leila Shirvani pass through. And, invisible but present, Pietro Casu and Agostino Sanna, the authors of the Cantones de Nadale, the Berchidda choir, and the voices of Sinatra, Tormé and Crosby.

The neighborhood around the Auditorium

The Auditorium occupies an area of about 55,000 square meters between Villa Glori, the Villaggio Olimpico, the Corso di Francia viaduct and Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski.

The Villaggio Olimpico and MAXXI

Near the Flaminia/Reni stop is MAXXI, the national museum of 21st-century arts. A short distance away is Teatro Olimpico. Inside the Auditorium, for those who arrive early, there's the Musical Instruments Museum of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

Toward the Tiber and Ponte Milvio

From the Auditorium you go down toward the river and the Ponte della Musica, the footbridge that leads to the Foro Italico. Farther north, beyond Piazza Mancini, is Milvian Bridge, one of the evening meeting points of northern Rome.

Christmas in the city

Anyone coming to Rome for the concert can complete the weekend with the ideas collected in the listing on Christmas in Rome, and take tram 2 back to Piazza del Popolo, where the Tridente and Villa Borghese begin.

Accessibility, age and practical information

The Auditorium is a modern complex spread over several levels among terraces, foyers and halls. For accessibility needs at the concert it's best to contact the Fondazione Musica per Roma in advance at info@musicaperroma.it, to know which entrance to use and which seats to choose.

Parking

The Auditorium's paid car parks, at street level and multi-story, have spaces reserved for people with disabilities.

With children

Christmas Songs is one of the jazz concerts best suited to a family: recognizable Christmas melodies, a contained volume, three different instruments to watch. For a child who studies an instrument, seeing how a trumpet, a bandoneon and a cello build a song together is a live lesson. The admission rules for minors are those indicated by the Auditorium at the time of purchase.

Where to eat before or after the concert

Inside Auditorium Parco della Musica there are a bar and a café in the foyer and a bar restaurant with street access as well. Between the Villaggio Olimpico, Via Flaminia and Piazza Mancini you'll find pizzerias, trattorias and neighborhood bars. For a concert at 20:00 dinner beforehand is only possible by booking early, around 18:30. Anyone who prefers to eat afterward finds the widest offering at Ponte Milvio, a few minutes away, where on Saturday nights the places stay open late: booking is essential.

A December Saturday at the Auditorium

December 12 closes a dense week for the Auditorium: on the 9th Jordi Savall conducts Vivaldi for Santa Cecilia, on the 10th Mauro Di Maggio celebrates 30 years of career, on the 11th Giovanni Tommaso presents My Four Seasons with the Orchestra Nazionale Jazz Giovani Talenti. Jazz lovers can build a weekend on two consecutive evenings, Friday with Tommaso and Saturday with Fresu.

Weather and clothing

In December Roman evenings are cool and often damp, and the walk from the tram to the Auditorium is outdoors. A coat to leave at the coat check and a folding umbrella are a good idea.

Frequently asked questions about Paolo Fresu in Rome

When does Paolo Fresu play at Auditorium Parco della Musica in December?

Paolo Fresu plays at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone on Saturday, December 12, 2026 at 20:00, in Sala Sinopoli, with the Christmas concert Christmas Songs. It's a single date, in the Fondazione Musica per Roma's Jazz program.

How much do tickets for Paolo Fresu Christmas Songs cost?

Tickets for Paolo Fresu's Christmas Songs at the Auditorium start at 30 euros, according to the official event page. They are bought from the Auditorium's website, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the complex's ticket office at Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30.

Who plays with Paolo Fresu in Christmas Songs?

In Christmas Songs Paolo Fresu, on trumpet, flugelhorn and effects, plays in a trio with Daniele di Bonaventura on bandoneon and effects and with the cellist Leila Shirvani, a collaborator of Giovanni Sollima and Enrico Melozzi.

What does Paolo Fresu play in the Christmas concert?

Paolo Fresu's Christmas Songs concert brings together the Cantones de Nadale, Sardinian Christmas songs written in 1927 by Pietro Casu and Agostino Sanna, and American standards such as White Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and The Christmas Song, with Till Bethlehem and Joy to the World.

When was the Christmas Songs project born?

Paolo Fresu's Christmas Songs project was born in December 2012, from a Christmas concert the trumpeter was asked to give for the city of Sassari. In November 2013 Fresu released, with his quintet and Daniele di Bonaventura, the record Jazzy Christmas on his label Tŭk Music.

How many seats does Sala Sinopoli have?

Sala Sinopoli at Auditorium Parco della Musica has 1,133 seats between orchestra and galleries. It was the first hall of the complex to open, on April 21, 2002, together with Sala Petrassi, and it bears the name of the conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli.

How do you get to Auditorium Parco della Musica by public transport?

Auditorium Parco della Musica is reached by metro A to Flaminio and then tram 2, stops Flaminia/Reni or Apollodoro. From Termini there is bus 910, with no changes. Lines 53, 982 and 168 also pass nearby.

The final advice on Paolo Fresu and Christmas Songs

A trumpeter returning to the songs of his hometown, a bandoneon and a cello, Sinatra's standards alongside the Cantones de Nadale, in a hall of a thousand seats on a December Saturday: in our judgment Christmas Songs is the most personal Christmas concert of the Roman season. The advice is to listen to Jazzy Christmas in the preceding days, buy tickets in good time, choose the central orchestra and arrive at the Auditorium half an hour early, for a turn around the lit cavea before going in.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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