The Italian National Youth Choir
The Italian Youth Choir, a unique formation in the Italian choral scene, has been strongly desired by Feniarco since 2003: training, growth, projects, new stimuli and important paths for our young singers. For the two-year period 2023-2024, the direction is entrusted to Marco Berrini.
The Italian Youth Choir is a unique formation in the Italian choral scene. A training laboratory, an experience that leaves fruitful imprints on the territory, a choir that aims for excellence: this is the profile the federation wanted for its choir. The 40 young singers, between 18 and 28 years old, come from different Italian regions and many music experiences and periodically renew themselves by holding energy, vitality and passion.
The establishment of this formation in 2003 brought Italian choral music into line with other European contexts. Over the years, internationally renowned choral conductors such as Filippo Maria Bressan (2003-2004, 2006), Nicola Conci (2005), Stojan Kuret (2007-2008), Lorenzo Donati with Dario Tabbia (2011-2014), Gary Graden with Roberta Paraninfo (2015-2016), Luigi Marzola with Carlo Pavese (2017-2019), and Davide Benetti with Petra Grassi (2020-2022) have taken turns leading the Italian Youth Choir.
The choir has dealt with different repertoires: from Renaissance polyphony to the twentieth century, from the Neapolitan school of the 18th century to the popular repertoire of the Italian regions, from Romanticism to contemporary composers, of various origins and style.
The choir has participated four times at the Festival Europa Cantat, one of the biggest European choral event: in 2006 in Mainz; in 2012 in Turin, in 2015 in Pécs (Hungary) and in 2018 in Tallinn (Estonia). On these occasions the choir had the opportunity to work, together with other national youth choirs, with conductors such as Frieder Bernius, Simon Gaudenz, Georg Grün, Filippo Maria Bressan and to perform in concert with its repertoire in prestigious places and in front of a prepared audience. The choir has also participated at the 2016 edition of the Les Choralies Festival in Vaison la Romaine (France) working with Philippe Forget.
The Italian Youth Choir is often invited to perform in important national and international festival and choir events and has been featured in dozens of specially commissioned premieres by leading Italian composers. During its history it has held over 150 concerts in many Italian towns, from North to South: Aosta, Arezzo, Assisi, Bergamo, Cuneo, Desio, Fano,Ferrara, Fermo, Firenze, Genova, L’Aquila, Messina, Milano, Perugia, Pescara, Pordenone, Potenza, Prato, Procida, Quincinetto, Reggio Calabria, Reggio Emilia, Roma, Salerno, Siena, Taranto, Torino, Trani, Trento, Trieste, Udine, Venezia, Vicenza, just to a name a few.
Highlights include participation in MiTo Settembre Musica from 2016 to 2022, the Sagra Musicale Umbra and Reggia di Caserta in 2017, the music season of the Pietà dei Turchini Foundation in Naples, the CantaBO Festival in Bologna, and Rezia Cantat in 2018. In 2019 the choir was invited to Graz (Austria) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) as well as Matera 2019 European Capital of Culture. In 2021 it gave a concert for Parma Italian Capital of Culture and the City of Fermo National Choral Competition. In 2022 it performed for the 900th anniversary of Piacenza Cathedral, as the guest choir for the 55th National Choral Competition Trofei Città di Vittorio Veneto and the 70th Guido d'Arezzo International Polyphonic Competition, at the Baths of Diocletian in Rome and in Orvieto Cathedral for the Piana del Cavaliere Festival as well as in Procida Italian Capital of Culture and in Salerno Cathedral for Musica Sana. On June 2, 2023, he was called to perform in the gardens of the Quirinale for President Mattarella on the occasion of the initiatives for the 77th anniversary of the Italian Republic
The Italian Youth Choir is a group able to face challenging dares and to confront the most prestigious choral realities thanks to the extreme flexibility of the young members, the attention and scrupulousness of its conductors and the energetic spirit that comes from the desire to make choir, growing together, maturing from a musical and also human point of view.
Of note, in 2014, participation in the Florilège Vocal de Tours (France) where the choir won three first prizes in the obligatory, free and renaissance program categories, respectively, as well as a special prize. As proof of the eclecticism and versatility of this lineup, it is worth mentioning the collaboration, also in 2014, with The Rolling Stones to perform a song with the celebrated rock icons in the concert at the Circus Maximus in Rome in front of more than 60 thousand spectators.
For the years 2023-2024 the choir will be conducted by Marco Berrini.
