Musica Viva Geography of Sound
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Private concerts · Historical interiors · Played on historical Italian cellos

The geography of sound.

Private concerts by cellist Max Beitan, staged within heritage palaces and noble estates — curated by the Beitan Music Foundation.

The Foundation

"An instrument built in 1689 carries centuries of human resonance. When we bring these masterpieces into spaces of equal historical depth, music ceases to be mere performance — it becomes an act of architectural stewardship."

Max Beitan · Founder & Artistic Director

The Architecture of
Shared Resonance

Musica Viva removes the distance between the stage, the room and the listener. We do not arrange tours; we host small private gatherings where a performance, a historic interior and considered hospitality become a single unhurried evening.

An enfilade of palace salons
An enfilade of salons — the room as instrument

The Custodians

Max Beitan with his cello
Founder & Artistic Director

Max Beitan

Cellist Max Beitan founded Musica Viva to perform where music and place carry equal weight. He trained at the Royal College of Music in London, the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, and the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, where he took his Master's and Soloist diplomas, and studied with Daniil Shafran, Natalia Gutman, Bernard Greenhouse, Victoria Yagling, Johannes Goritzki and pianist Ivo Pogorelich. He performs on historical Italian instruments, among them the Stradivari "Archinto" (1689) and "Magg" (1698), a David Tecchler (1698) and a Giovanni Rota cello. Each programme is written for the room in which it will be heard.

Natalya Armolovich
Co-Founder & Director of Guest Experience

Natalya Armolovich

Natalya Armolovich shapes the human fabric of every journey. With an academic background in pharmacology and nutrition and more than two decades of dedicated practice, she designs each programme around the real comfort of the guest — from menus calibrated to the rhythm of an intensive cultural schedule, to the care that carries a patron from the first enquiry to the final dinner. Under her direction, every guest is received not as a client, but as an invited guest of the Foundation.

"Beauty is not decoration. It is the language through which we remember who we are."

Natalya Armolovich
Max Beitan performing on a historical Italian cello within a heritage salon
On the instrument

Each evening begins with the instrument. Trained at the Royal College of Music and in Lugano, Max Beitan draws from historical Italian cellos — the Stradivari "Archinto" of 1689 among them — and matches each one's voice to the acoustic and the century of the room in which it will sound. What follows is a synthesis of bel canto line and a speaking, vocal phrasing: opera fantasies, Heifetz and Kreisler transcriptions, Buxton Orr's Carmen Fantasy, and his own works.

Selected Stages
Library of Congress, Washington United Nations, Geneva Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, St. Petersburg LAC Lugano Venice Film Festival Villa del Balbianello, Lake Como Large Guild, Rīga
"An impressive and memorable, deep performance."
Vladimir Ashkenazy · on Shostakovich Concerto No. 1
"I hear an Italian voice."
Riccardo Muti · on Rachmaninoff's Vocalise
The 2026 season

Two gatherings. Eight seats each.

The Art Nouveau spires and Baroque rooftops of Rīga at dawn
01 Latvia · 13 – 17 August 2026

The Baltic Baroque & Jugendstil

Rīga & The Art Nouveau Quarter

Day 1

A concert by Max Beitan, cello, and piano at the Chekhov Rīga Russian Theatre, followed by a celebratory dinner.

Day 2

A guided walk through Old Rīga; a recital on the world's largest historic organ at Rīga Dome Cathedral; a tasting of Rīga Black Balsam.

Day 3

A tour of Rīga's Art Nouveau district, then the seaside resort of Jūrmala, closing with dinner at an Armenian restaurant.

Days 4 – 5

A transfer to Liepupes Manor, a historic country estate, for an intimate concert by Max Beitan and dinner in the manor — staying through to Monday morning.

€2,100 per person · full five-day programme

Accommodation and transfers arranged individually upon request.

Request an Allocation Briefing
A baroque Palermo facade
02 Sicily · 01 – 05 October 2026

The Mediterranean Nocturnes

Palermo's Private Palazzi

Day 1

Arrival in Palermo and an intimate welcome dinner at a historic city venue — an introduction to Sicilian hospitality and fine local wines.

Day 2

A concert by Max Beitan, followed by dinner hosted by Duchess Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi at Palazzo Lanza Tomasi — the last home of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, where the original manuscript of The Leopard is preserved.

Day 3

An exclusive cooking class with the Duchess di Palma — ranked among the world's top five by Forbes — a market visit and a Planeta-paired lunch within the palace.

Day 4

A guided walk through Baroque Palermo and its Arab-Norman basilicas, then a concert by Max Beitan and guest musicians, followed by a candlelit dinner at Palazzo Raffadali, hosted by Princess Stefania di Raffadali.

Day 5

A relaxed farewell brunch — the last flavours of Sicily and the close of an unforgettable journey.

€2,900 per person · full five-day programme

Accommodation and transfers arranged individually upon request.

Request an Allocation Briefing
Attendance

Request an Allocation Briefing

Each gathering is limited to eight seats. Allocation for the 2026 season is by application, accompanied by an institutional or patron reference.

+41 77 929 44 77 · info@musicavivatours.com · Registry Office, Lugano, Switzerland
Partners & Foundations
The Patron Foundation Beitan Music Foundation beitanmusicfoundation.org The Artistic Director Max Beitan maxbeitan.com