Marco Toso Borella
The "Leonardo" of Venice
MASTER GLASSMAKER, PAINTER,
SINGER, CONDUCTOR,
WRITER, HISTORICAL COMMUNICATOR
Painting, music, writing: Marco Toso Borella is an eclectic and well-rounded artist who expresses his artistic creativity through various disciplines, reaching the highest levels in each.
From an innate talent for freehand drawing, a true profession in the art of glass was born, establishing himself over 40 years of experience as the world’s leading exponent of the ancient artistic technique of gold engraving in the contemporary evolution of ancient family traditions.
From perfect pitch and a natural bass voice springs a unique musical project: Italy’s largest choir, one of the largest permanent choirs in the world, a true artistic phenomenon of the city of Venice, into which decades of singing experience and all his charisma as a conductor converge: the Big Vocal Orchestra.
From his curiosity about the history of his island emerges a refined and original literary path in all its forms, from uchronic novels to historical essays, from short story collections to the encyclopedic work on Murano, all literary uniques.
BIOGRAPHY
1960s
- CHILDHOOD IN MURANO
1970s
- FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GLASSMAKING
- WORKS OF YOUTH
1980s
- THE DISCOVERY OF THE FAMILY ART
1990s
- THE ENCOUNTER WITH CHORAL MUSIC
- NEW CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
FOR THE GOLD ENGRAVING TECHNIQUE
2000s
- THE BEGINNING OF THE LITERARY FRONT: HERALDRY, MURANO HISTORY AND NOVELS
- BATTLES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF MURANO
2010s
- THE CHORAL UNIVERSE DIRECTED BY MTB IS BORN: Big Vocal Orchestra and Vocal Skyline
- THE GLASS VIA CRUCIS
2019
- THE AQUA GRANDA AND THE PANDEMIC
- CONCERT AT PALAZZO DUCALE
2020/21
- VIDEO LESSONS AND ONLINE REHEARSALS
- A NEW CONCERT-SHOW FORMAT
- PHASE-ZERO
- MURANO GLASS CRISIS AND JAPANESE PERIOD
2022
- A PERSONAL RENAISSANCE
- MURANO A-Z: THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIC DICTIONARY
- AT THE MURANO GLASS MUSEUM
- SPEAKER AT TED-X
2023/24
- NEW BOLD ARRANGEMENTS: TRIBUTE TO VAJONT AND “CARMINA NIRVANA”
- “LA VOCE GRANDE DI VENEZIA” IS BORN
- VINCENZO ZANETTI ANNIVERSARY
2025
- AT THE VENICE CARNIVAL
- 10 YEARS AT TEATRO STABILE DEL VENETO
2026
- ROTARY VIRTUOSI AWARD 2026
- CITIZENSHIP AWARD AT PREMIO SAN MARCO 2026
1960s
CHILDHOOD IN MURANO
Marco Toso Borella was born in Murano on October 3, 1962, and grew up on this island in the Venetian lagoon immersed in an economic and social context where Artistic Glass is the absolute protagonist, but he was initially unaware of the artistic heritage of his ancestors flowing through his veins.
From childhood, Marco expressed a marked and innate talent for drawing, but his family since the postwar period had specialized in producing ornamental wooden frames for Murano mirrors and manufacturing packaging, and therefore he had no way to learn by direct emulation the ancient art of gold engraving that had always distinguished the Toso Borella family.
Marco Toso Borella was born in Murano on October 3, 1962.
AGE 8: THE FIRST “BATTLE”
It’s a large piece of wrapping paper transformed by an 8-year-old’s imagination into an enormous drawing sheet on which to lie for hours drawing warriors in battle.
A childhood memory of Marco Toso Borella that already reveals his innate talent, as well as the “battle” subject that has always been the protagonist of his works.
Made entirely with blue ballpoint pen and “Carioca” markers, the drawing—incomplete—is rich in details exactly like his mature works, all characterized by a very strong “horror vacui”.
1970s
FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GLASSMAKING
Pragmatically directed by his parents to pursue accounting studies, while collaborating with the family carpentry business, he also began working during summer vacations in some glassworks, learning to practice and love the art of working the material in front of the fire—seahorses, rough glasses, small vases: the rudiments of glassmaking began to take shape from his hands.
He learned from the masters of the time to blow glass, to know the peculiarities and behavior of this exceptional material, strong and fragile. His knowledge of technique and material was further enriched by the experience of furnace life: the sounds, the terms, the smells, the fatigue, the relief of the “marenda” that he himself was tasked with picking up early in the morning for everyone, washed down with good honest and flavorful wine from Mary’s. With the masters he established a special relationship and many of them transmitted to him, along with paternal smiles, a know-how and a visceral passion for this ancient art.
During the summer months he learned and practiced glassmaking in some Murano furnaces
WORKS OF YOUTH
In his free time he devoted himself to literature, fascinated particularly by classical mythology, epic poetry and the study of history, but above all to freehand drawing as a self-taught artist: his natural talent emerged increasingly evident and over the years also consolidated technically. One of his reference artists is, among all, Leonardo Da Vinci: at 17 he studied and reworked the lost work “The Battle of Anghiari“.
1980s
THE DISCOVERY OF THE FAMILY ART
It’s the late 1970s, a young Marco Toso is elected student representative at Paolo Sarpi in Venice: a strong and determined character emerges, characterized by deep rationality and sense of justice. He graduates as an accountant and commercial expert.
During his military service, served in the Italian Navy, he was chosen as a radio telegraphist for his outstanding acoustic abilities.
He is deeply animated by the daemon of art which, despite an orderly and solid private life, makes him restless beneath the surface.
Always driven by curiosity and thirst for knowledge, he studied and investigated for years in Venetian and Murano archives and libraries in search of the origins of his island, until he discovered the history of the “Toso Borella of Murano”: the epithet “Borella” associated with the branch of the Toso family specialized in decorating cups and glasses through the ancient artistic technique of gold engraving; the fame of ancestors Vittorio and Francesco Toso and the talent of the female branch of the family with Rosalia, Linda, Alice and Amalia Toso.
Despite brilliantly completing his studies and job offers in the financial sector, Marco Toso preferred to follow in his ancestors’ footsteps and pursue an artistic path.
He added to his surname the ancient family nickname that denoted the branch of the Toso family specialized in glass painting: “Borella”.
He was student representative at Paolo Sarpi in Venice,
and graduated as an accountant and commercial expert.
1990s
A PAINTER-SINGER: THE ENCOUNTER WITH CHORAL MUSIC
His artistic vein is not exhausted in painting alone. It was in fact in the 1990s that Marco Toso Borella approached the art of music.
It’s December 8, 1991, the feast day of San Nicola, patron saint of glassmakers, and returning from work at his atelier he passes in front of the Basilica of San Donato in Murano while inside a polyphonic choir concert is taking place. It’s the first time in his life he hears a live performance of Mozart’s Ave Verum and the Maestro is completely captivated.
He became a member of several Venetian polyphonic ensembles, presenting a powerful bass voice and for years tackled classical repertoires, performing high-profile concerts, also as a bass soloist.
Toward the end of the 1990s he enriched his choral singing experience also in some of the most highly regarded Venetian gospel ensembles in which he was a driving force, prominent solo voice and backbone of the male section.
He collaborated as a bass voice in the recording of numerous album projects.
NEW CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
FOR THE GOLD ENGRAVING TECHNIQUE
He reconstructed from scratch the ancient technique of gold leaf engraving, reinterpreting it in a contemporary key. The result is an absolutely innovative development that allows him to enhance the transparency and depth of glass through the superimposition of different levels.
The subjects of his creations are mainly metaphysical, rich in symbolism drawn from classical mythology reworked in a completely original way.
Elaborations of contemporaneity narrated through an ancient technique.
His is a lucid, disenchanted, critical vision of the world.
His artworks were immediately appreciated and sold in Murano glassworks, thus marking the beginning of an internationally successful artistic career.
He elaborates the ancient gold engraving technique in a contemporary key
2000s
THE BEGINNING OF THE LITERARY FRONT
His passion for music does not at all replace his research path on Murano history and art and his commitment to preserving his island.
In the 2000s he developed, parallel to his artistic profession in glass and his growing commitment to choral music, a strand of literary activity.
From his careful studies on heraldry and the history of Venice and Murano he reconstructed in a volume the “Coats of Arms of Murano Families“, which represents the first complete work on the subject, followed by The Mystery of the Rooster. Coat of Arms of the Magnificent Community of Murano.
For his studies he became a member of the Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute (IAGI).
For his studies he became a member of the Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute (IAGI)
In 2003 he published his first uchronic novel “Impossible Venice 1989: The Most Serene Prince Announces That…“, Supernova Publishing, now in its third reprint, translated into English and also adapted into a film version in the movie “Impossible Venice” presented at the Venice International Film Festival in 2013.
In 2005 he published the collection of short stories inspired by the world of chess “Masters and Pawns (checkmate to whom?)” Supernova Publishing, from which a theatrical performance was created in which the author interprets the various stories that make up the work.
BATTLES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF MURANO
His dedication to preserving the island of Murano is also expressed in some battles carried out on the front line, such as the one that allowed him to intervene for the original restoration of the roof of the San Donato bridge in Murano.
Thanks to his passionate involvement he managed to engage Save Venice for the restoration of the mosaic floor of the Basilica of San Donato in Murano which was undergoing a devastating degradation process.
In the local press of the time, echoes of his battles for the preservation of Murano
In 2009 he published a volume “The Dossals of San Zuanne. Traversing the Marvel… ” which aims to enhance an almost forgotten jewel of the island of Murano: the wooden dossals of the sacristy of the Church of San Pietro Martire in Murano. They are in fact one of the very few remaining fragments of the ancient Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Battista in Murano, another study to which the Maestro has dedicated years and for which he still fights today in order to bring it back from the oblivion to which all history books have consigned it.
As also cited in the specialized journal “L’Arte Lombarda” in an article by Marina Dell’Omo dedicated to Filippo Abbiati, his is the attribution of the painting “Farewell of Saint John the Baptist” for the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Battista in Murano, currently positioned in the sacristy of the church of San Pietro Martire, as a work by the painter Filippo Abbiati.
2010s
A CHORAL UNIVERSE IS BORN
GUIDED BY MARCO TOSO BORELLA
In the 2010s the Maestro developed some of his most significant artistic and musical intuitions such as, in 2006, the Venice Gospel Festival, an event that attracted choirs to Venice from all over Italy and also from Europe, and which brought his choral ensembles to perform in prestigious contexts, such as St. Mark’s Basilica and the Basilica of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, and original ones like the singing water procession of gondolas along the Grand Canal that performed in an “instant concert” at the foot of the Rialto Bridge: a “flash mob” before its time.
In 2012 Marco Toso Borella founded his own choral universe, under his artistic direction: the Big Vocal Orchestra and Vocal Skyline, two Venetian choirs that bring together numerous amateur singers from the area.
In 2012 the cultural association Penelope was born, which in Venice manages the activities of two choral ensembles directed by Marco Toso Borella: the Big Vocal Orchestra and Vocal Skyline.
Under his expert but also very charismatic guidance, the Big Vocal Orchestra became within a few years an enormous choir, attracting amateur singers from throughout the Venetian territory, from the historic center to the islands to the mainland, and exceeding 300 members. The Big Vocal Orchestra is the largest permanent choral ensemble in the world.
Meanwhile, Vocal Skyline, which brings together the youngest voices, attracted some of the most talented young voices in Veneto, becoming for the maestro an artistic place for experimentation across different musical genres and where, despite his classical training, pop music, musicals, and international rock play a leading role, which he rearranges in choral versions integrating stage movements and actual choral choreographies with the voices.
The choral ensemble Vocal Skyline brings together the youngest and most talented voices of the choral universe directed by Marco Toso Borella.
Using the choir members as tiles in a mosaic of a thousand shades, what Marco Toso Borella does is paint with music, generating emotions and attracting an exceptional following of audience and singers.
His is an unconventional conducting style. He sings, dances, leaves his position to encourage the audience to participate in the show by singing or clapping.
He often conducts his choral ensembles from the center of the auditorium, immersed among the audience, not only to be better seen by all the many singers distributed between stage and auditorium, but above all to establish a more direct relationship with the audience who are thus swept up by the energy of the choir and its charismatic leader.
Marco Toso Borella often conducts his choral ensembles from the center of the theater auditorium to be better visible to all the singers
This period of great artistic fervor on the musical and literary front is expressed in glass with the creation, in 2015/2016, of one of the Maestro’s most iconic works: his Glass Via Crucis.
Currently displayed inside the Basilica of San Donato in Murano, Marco Toso Borella’s Via Crucis consists of 14 icons depicting the Passion of Christ plus a fifteenth that represents (outside the traditional canon) the Resurrection.
The work is unique: it is the first and only Via Crucis in Murano Glass, created with deep respect for Byzantine art of which the Basilica is a world-famous example. A constant dialogue with the place that houses it: the famous mosaic floor, the golden apse in which the Praying Madonna stands out, the numerous references to frescoes, decorations and other details of the church.
An intense spiritual journey that is recognized by theologians also for its rigorous catechesis and was in fact chosen in 2019 by the Patriarch of Venice Francesco Moraglia to illustrate his volume of meditations “Via Crucis. The Wisdom of the Cross” (Studium Publishing).
Marco Toso Borella’s Via Crucis is permanently displayed inside the Basilica of San Donato in Murano.
2019
THE ACQUA GRANDA AND THE PANDEMIC
The end of the decade was marked by an event with great impact on the entire city of Venice: the exceptional high water of November 12, 2019. It was a hard blow for tourism, but especially for Murano glassworks which suffered much damage. The Maestro’s own workshop was affected.
Inspired by the dramatic nature of the event, Marco Toso Borella composed a choral piece “Mermaids” that plays precisely on the double meaning in Italian of the word “sirene” and in which the voices interpret the growing sound of the exceptional high water alarm sirens. The piece was performed during a concert that the Big Vocal Orchestra performed in St. Mark’s Square as a tribute to the city struck by high water, about a month later.
The TGR Rai del Veneto report also aired on TG1
THE FIRST MAJOR CONCERT FROM THE LOGGIA OF PALAZZO DUCALE IN ST. MARK’S SQUARE
On that occasion the Maestro had the intuition to deploy his very large choir along the entire portico and loggia of Palazzo Ducale, illuminating its facade with lighting effects of great impact. It was an absolute first. The event attracted a very large audience (over 5,000 people) and the national and international press also covered it (TG1 and CNN).
What seemed to be the culmination of an artistic journey suddenly transformed into the “end of an era.” Just over a month after the concert, the pandemic would force the world to lock down at home.
All scheduled concerts were canceled. The city of Venice emptied of its tourists. Glassworks shut down their furnaces. All the Maestro’s artistic activity suffered a very hard blow.
Images from the first major concert of the Big Vocal Orchestra in St. Mark’s Square with the singers appearing from the Loggia of Palazzo Ducale.
2020
RESISTANCE AND INGENIOUS CHORAL SOLUTIONS: VIDEO LESSONS AND ONLINE REHEARSALS
But it is precisely in this moment of maximum difficulty that Marco Toso Borella drew from his creativity the resources to outline unique solutions.
Aware that for his 300 singers belonging to the choir is much more than an artistic experience but is also a fundamental place of aggregation and sociality especially in such a historical moment, he invented a system to keep his voices trained: an original system of “video lessons” was registered with SIAE as a completely innovative format.
The singers virtually participated in video lessons in which he had the opportunity to give space to explaining the proposed pieces also from a cultural point of view and then learned their section’s part by practicing through a sort of “choral karaoke,” unique in its kind.
A portion of Marco Toso Borella’s video lesson dedicated to explaining a piece for choir performance.
THE INFINITY VOCAL ORCHESTRA PROJECT
The experience was also extended outside the choir with the “INFINITY VOCAL ORCHESTRA” project which allowed anyone to participate from home in remote choral training.
As soon as regulations allowed, he resumed in-person rehearsals and resumed concert activity, having in the meantime always continued to keep the group united and prepared.
The pandemic experience brought objective growth to the quality of the group which maintained active the technological tools introduced by necessity and therefore offered new opportunities for artistic growth to the choral ensembles, with more personalized and targeted study, as well as greater awareness on the part of the singers themselves of the meaning of musical choices.
After the forced pause of the pandemic, the Maestro worked hard for the safe resumption of in-person rehearsals.
NEW ARTISTIC CONCERT-SHOW FORMAT
The Big Vocal Orchestra and Vocal Skyline universe thus underwent a major innovative push that also translated on stage, further developing the scenic and theatrical impact of the shows: they were no longer simple concerts but true immersive multidisciplinary and multisensory events, in which the audience was increasingly involved and literally embraced by the voices and movements of the choir, as well as surprised by the spectacular video and lighting effects. Everything was created entirely by the choir members themselves without the involvement of external artists. A completely unique format in the national panorama that consolidated its presence in the most prestigious theaters of Veneto as well as in Venetian squares, primarily St. Mark’s Square. Marco Toso Borella’s choral ensembles are in all respects the “official voice” of the city of Venice, involved in the most authoritative institutional initiatives.
It is in this period that the Maestro reworked the ancient madrigal by Antonio Lotti “Spirto di Dio” adapting it in a contemporary key to be sung by his choral ensembles and presented as the most rigorous, from a historical point of view, “Anthem of Venice”.
Spirto di Dio was an ancient Venetian madrigal that from 1736 was sung aboard the Bucintoro on the day of the Festa della Sensa for the marriage of Venice with the sea.
During the pandemic Marco Toso Borella published posts on his social media channels where he proposed disenchanted analyses of the city of Venice and its problems that came to a head precisely during the covid emergency. The lucidity and success of his analyses led to the publication of #FASEZERO. The Whole Truth About Venice in Nine Chapters (Supernova Publishing), a provocative and disenchanted political pamphlet on post-covid Venice.
The #Fasezero pamphlet originated as a social media post during the pandemic.
2021
FROM THE MURANO GLASS CRISIS
TO THE JAPANESE PERIOD
The pandemic significantly bent the world of Murano glass. Many furnaces closed forever and tourism, which took years to return to crowd the island, has changed over the years, marked by the logic of overtourism and penalized by new wars.
Marco Toso Borella could count in this difficult moment on a major new opportunity: an important commission from a Japanese client. On behalf of the Mazzega glassworks he created 20 Murano Glass panels (50x70cm) depicting an ancient Japanese tale told through images dating back to the 10th century and redrawn by the Maestro according to the ancient technique of gold leaf engraving. This is the “KANSAJ” Project.
One of the 20 glass panels depicting the story of the bamboo cutter “Taketori Monogatari” engraved on gold leaf and glass by Marco Toso Borella
THE “KANSAJ” PROJECT
The imposing work was exhibited to the public in an exhibition set up in Murano at Palazzo da Mula, in July 2022, before being sent to Japan where it is now permanently displayed in a palace in the Kansaj region.
Exceptional in subject, exceptional in size and destination, the work therefore also represents an extraordinary story of “resistance” of Murano art in a time of extreme difficulty, as it was created precisely during the pandemic, in full lockdown, for a full year of work.
The engravings reproduce in an absolutely faithful manner—even if personalized to “translate” the work into an artistic language, that of glass, completely new—an ancient Japanese tale from the 10th century, namely “Taketori Monogatari”, inspired by the legendary “Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”, an ancient Japanese fairy tale. The story, also known as “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” tells of a mysterious child discovered inside a bamboo bush glowing in the night.
With the end of the pandemic crisis, the collaboration with Cristina Pustetto, Giacomo Franzoso and Betty Sfriso also definitively ceased, giving way to a renewed staff in which the historic collaborator and leading solo voice Francesca Bellemo emerged with new responsibilities, now Vice President and Event Manager, and Eleonora Toso also joined the group’s communication and promotion activities. Both brought an important innovative contribution to the Maestro’s work, both on the musical and pictorial fronts, supporting from an operational point of view some of his most significant initiatives ever.
Before being shipped to Japan, the 20 works of the Kansaj Project were exhibited in an exhibition set up at Palazzo Da Mula in Murano.
2022
A PERSONAL “RENAISSANCE”
What followed the pandemic period represents for Marco Toso Borella a personal artistic “renaissance.” Very few years in which all his arts flourished again, illuminated by new light and enthusiasm.
New professional and musical opportunities were added to growing institutional recognition in the city for his artistic and cultural commitment.
His authority was irreversibly established in all directions.
MURANO A-Z: ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIC DICTIONARY
In May 2022 he presented the publication of the first volume of “Murano A-Z. Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary of Murano “, a true encyclopedia on the history, glass, heraldry, families, art, buildings, personalities and toponymy relating to the island of Murano with research, texts, reconstructions, maps and illustrations curated and created entirely by the Maestro who represents in this field the greatest expert on the history and art of his native island.
The volume was presented during an event inside the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista.
MURANO A-Z is the first major encyclopedic work in history dedicated to Murano
AT THE MURANO GLASS MUSEUM
Since July 2022 two of his artworks, “Connections” and “Elements” have been permanently displayed inside the Murano Glass Museum, on the piano nobile of the palace as the supreme example of the contemporary expression of Murano glassmaking art.
The two works attracted great interest from visitors who often take selfies in front of the works, recognizing within the battle depicted by the artist the figure of the well-known character “Homer Simpson” along with the symbols of big tech “Facebook, Google, Youtube”.
Both works are in fact a symbolic representation of contemporary conflicts: in “Connections” the battle in the time of covid between vax and no-vax, rationality and irrationality, and in “Elements” the conflictual search for “true glass” on an island of Murano where Artistic Glass is experiencing a phase of creative decline.
At the Glass Museum there is also a third work, occasionally displayed: “Metropolitan Triptych”.
“Connections”, one of the two works by Marco Toso Borella permanently displayed at the Murano Glass Museum
SPEAKER AT TED X
In November 2022, Marco Toso Borella was invited as a speaker at TEDX Mestre and presented a provocative and disenchanted talk on the future challenges of the world of Murano Glass and Venice.
Marco Toso Borella’s talk at TED X Mestre
2023
NEW “BOLD” ARRANGEMENTS
Driven by a general artistic renewal, the repertoire of his choral groups also underwent significant changes: moving definitively away from the limited definition of a “gospel choir,” the groups increasingly expressed the musical eclecticism of the Maestro. During this period, he proposed “bold” but highly successful arrangements such as “Carmina Nirvana,” a piece that spectacularly blends opera and grunge: the “Fortuna imperatrix mundi” from Karl Orff’s Carmina Burana with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Vajont tragedy (2023), when the Big Vocal Orchestra was invited by the Municipality of Longarone to commemorate the anniversary with a solemn concert in the Church of S. Maria Ausiliatrice, they presented “Vajont,” a poignant piece that blends Mozart’s “Ave Verum” with Bepi De Marzi’s “Signore delle Cime.”
Marco Toso Borella explains the meaning of his arrangement “Vajont” from the Vajont dam in tribute to the 60th anniversary of the tragedy.
THE “LA VOCE GRANDE DI VENEZIA” FESTIVAL IS BORN
Marco Toso Borella is the creator and artistic director of an event of historical significance: for the first time in the history of Venice, all the ancient Scuole Grandi of the Serenissima Republic, along with some historical and national ones, participate in a single artistic event: “La Voce Grande di Venezia” (The Great Voice of Venice). In its first edition, it was a city-wide concert held throughout the day on April 25, 2023.
The protagonists are the 300 voices of his choral groups, Vocal Skyline and Big Vocal Orchestra, who perform in rotation within these ancient treasure chests of memory, which are often little known.
Over a thousand spectators participated, rediscovering the history of these places and their city, thanks also to the contributions of accredited tour guides. The event was made possible through the collaboration of the Municipality of Venice and is held under the patronage of the Veneto Region.
The Big Vocal Orchestra lines up all its choristers inside the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, surrounded by Tintoretto’s pictorial cycle.
2024
In 2024, Marco Toso Borella celebrated the anniversary of the birth of Vincenzo Zanetti with a series of public educational events aimed at highlighting the figure of the abbot in the history of Murano and Glass.
Murano owes to him the rediscovery of its identity and the value of its Artistic Glass, as well as the creation of the Murano Glass Museum.
2025
In February 2025, the Big Vocal Orchestra debuted on the main stage of the Venice Carnival with a concert dedicated to Casanova in Piazza San Marco. It was a massive public success.
The artistic-musical festival “La Voce Grande di Venezia” reached its third edition.
Big Vocal Orchestra and Vocal Skyline are recognized as the only and longest-running artistic entity to be included in the official program of the Teatro Stabile del Veneto uninterruptedly for 10 years, and are celebrated in the official 2025-2026 program.
Marco Toso Borella created a monumental work on the theme of the “Nativity” titled THE TRUE MAN SHOW, which was presented and exhibited at the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice from December 22, 2025, to January 11, 2026, attracting numerous visitors.
The work, in its apparent sarcasm, is a complex and dramatic reworking of the Nativity, in which the sacred event of Christ’s birth is transformed into a media and commercial spectacle where the protagonists are the entire series of contemporary icons presented in the upper Register and among the gathered audience, which takes on the role of the Predella.
2026
VIRTUOSI AWARD 2026
Marco Toso Borella was chosen among the professionals honored with the prestigious Rotary recognition, for which the award ceremony took place on January 16 at the M9 Museum auditorium in Mestre.
This is an award promoted by the Rotary Club District 2060, Venice-Treviso-Padua area, to recognize figures from different professional fields who have interpreted their work as a responsibility to the community, combining competence, integrity, and civic commitment.
A recognition that combines his work as a Murano Glass artist with the great cultural and social impact of the choral project Big Vocal Orchestra and Vocal Skyline.
More information HERE
On the musical front, 2026 opens with a rich calendar of concerts, including the event for the Don Franco de Pieri Foundation on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Mestre priest’s death, and the third edition of the concert for Cucine Economiche Popolari di Padova “There’s a place for everyone”.
The Vocal Skyline are featured in the official calendar of the Venice Carnival and fill St. Mark’s Square with the concert “PLAYING OLYMPUS – Singing and playing in the living room of the gods”, while the Big Vocal Orchestra accompanies, also in St. Mark’s Square, the torch lighting ceremony of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Paralympics.
A very intense April 25th in 2026: while the Vocal Skyline prepare to stage at 6 PM the new original show ETERNAUTI Travelers of the ether, a tribute to David Bowie on the tenth anniversary of his death and a reflection on the relationship between Man and AI, with the Big Vocal Orchestra he crosses for the first time the threshold of the Hall of the Great Council of the Doge’s Palace in Venice to participate in the San Marco Award ceremony at which he also receives a special “Citizenship” award.
For the occasion, the choir prepares an original arrangement of the Hymn of San Marco.
The Maestro begins in 2026 a collaboration with The Glass Cathedral, a prestigious event location in the spaces of the former Church of Santa Chiara in Murano, where he is invited as a historical narrator in the context of private events (see The Murano Immersive Experiences).
On JUNE 12, 2026, his solo exhibition opens at the Murano Glass Museum: BABEL. The exhibition, organized by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, will be installed in the Brandolini Hall until MARCH 30, 2027.
Open to the public from June 13, 2026: daily 10 AM-6 PM
