The Neoneli Tenores celebrate half a century of Sardinian singing.
Fifty years of stages, travels, meetings and voices that intertwine like deep roots in the Island
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Fifty years of stages, travels, encounters, and voices intertwined like deep roots in the land of Sardinia. The Tenores di Neoneli, among the most authoritative ambassadors of tenore singing in the world, celebrate half a century of artistic activity.
Founded in 1976 by Tonino Cau, who still leads the group today, the Barigadu choir inaugurates the celebrations on Sunday, January 18th in Cagliari, in the evocative covered promenade of the Bastione di Saint Remy.
A symbolic place to launch a musical journey that retraces fifty years of history, memory, and experimentation.
Alongside the Tenores, four Sardinian multi-instrumentalists will take the stage – Orlando and Eliseo Mascia, Matteo Muscas, and Luca Schirru – linked by a long-standing artistic collaboration.
The concert offers an anthology of classical pieces that tell a journey built in over 2,050 performances around the world: 364 outside Sardinia, of which 194 abroad, in 40 countries and on all continents .
These numbers reflect the international dimension of an experience born in a small town on the island and capable of reaching audiences far and wide.
Today the group is made up of Tonino Cau, Ivo Marras, Peppeloisu Piras, Angelo Piras and Roberto Dessì, protagonists of dozens of original productions that have marked the history of contemporary tenor singing.
Shows such as A tenore, Cunfrontos, Boghes Noas, Rei, Boghes Lontanas, and projects dedicated to iconic figures in Italian history and culture—Gramsci, Lussu, Berlinguer—reveal an artistic pursuit that combines oral tradition, civic engagement, and experimentation.
The collaborations are also extraordinary: from traditional masters like Luigi Lai and the Tenores di Orgosolo to leading figures in Italian and international music such as Angelo Branduardi, Francesco Guccini, Ligabue, PFM, Elio e le Storie Tese, Roberto Vecchioni, Inti Illimani, and the Modena City Ramblers. An ongoing dialogue between seemingly distant soundscapes, yet united by the power of the voice.
Behind them are dozens of recordings, including LPs, cassettes, and CDs, and 13 books. 2026 will see the release of the Anthology and press review (Chimbanta and Gasetas), along with new lyrics written to be sung by the Tenores and artists such as Annamaria Puggioni, Elio, Finardi, and Carla Denule.
The tour outside Sardinia will symbolically restart in Venice on February 11th, where the first show on the other side of the Tyrrhenian Sea was held in 1976. Then, Milan, Rome, the United States, Cuba, and Toronto. But the heart of the celebrations will always be Neoneli, the place where it all began.
"We want to seal an artistic journey," they explain, "that aims to promote the Sardinian language and traditions."
(Unioneonline/Fr.Me.)
