Concert in the Secret Apartments of Palazzo Doria Pamphilj

Palazzo Doria Pamphilj is on Via del Corso and most of it is a gallery anyone can visit. The Secret Apartments are the part that is rarely open, and this evening opens them for a classical concert. It starts with a guided tour of the private rooms: frescoed halls, the original furnishings still in place, and the history of the Doria Pamphilj family. Then a welcome drink, then you take a seat for the performance. The programme is drawn from the Italian and European classical repertoire, sung by selected soloists of the Romaeterna Cantores Female Ensemble under Maestro Aurelio Porfiri. The rooms were built for company and conversation rather than for concerts, which is precisely what makes them work: hard plaster, high ceilings, no amplification needed, and an audience close enough to hear the breath before a phrase. The acoustics are the reason to sit here rather than in a hall.