A Case Study: Rome's Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio and the Social Function of Music

Abstract

The research presented here is based on studies of the sociology of music, as well as on analyses of the dynamics of immigration. This explored some of the social dynamics and actions of a multi-ethnic orchestra founded and operating in Rome. The purpose of the study was to examine this orchestra as an example of good practice regarding intercultural integration and was the criterion by which we chose to analyse the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, founded in 2002 by Mario Tronco in one of Rome’s central multi-ethnic districts, the Esquiline. The question posed here is whether the creation of a multi-ethnic orchestra can act as an alternative model which, by means of the socialisation process, redefines and rediscovers the age-old relational and integrating functions of music, availing of the collective memory, identity, heritage and varieties of music, without forfeiting its own identity.

Keywords

• sociology of arts
• identity
• life stories