Wunderkammer Trieste - CHIMERA

In 2006, with a memorable concert for viola da gamba and harpsichord in the newly restored Sala Costantinides at the Museo Sartorio, the Wunderkammer festival was born. Creating a festival entirely devoted to Early Music in the city of Trieste was a real challenge, almost an unattainable chimera.

Andrea Lausi, an internationally renowned physicist and now Scientific Director of SESAME, the Middle East Synchrotron, together with harpsichordist and musicologist Paola Erdas, brought their knowledge and passion together to take up the challenge: to bring to concert halls not only music, but a genuine musical philosophy—an approach respectful of historical performance practices, yet also stimulating and exciting, conveying to the people of Trieste the idea that Early Music does not belong sealed away in a museum display case, but is alive, “pop”, accessible to everyone and meant to be enjoyed by all.

And CHIMERA will be the title of this new 2026 edition, which will be even more varied and packed with unmissable events and artists: Deda Cristina Colonna, Mara Galassi, Hopkinson Smith, laReverdie, Emmanuelle Dauvin, Giovanna Baviera, Paola Erdas, SegretiArmonici, Bepi Santuzzo, Pina Sabatini, Valentino Pagliei, Tania Arcieri.