The choirs of the competion
The competition foresees the involvement of five choirs at the different stages' contests.
Preliminary round
Artemusica Choir of Valperga
conductor: Debora Bria
The Artemusica Choir was founded in Valperga in 2002 by Debora Bria, as choir conductor, and by Carlo Beltramo, co-conductor and accompanying pianist. It performs concerts, artistic collaborations and choral stages in Italy and abroad; it is often invited to prestigious national and international choral festivals. In 2011 the choir recorded the cd Cantus Novus dedicated to sacred music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and in 2013 the cd British Christmas Music for Children Choir about the English twentieth century and in 2018 the CD of the Giro Giro Canto 7 collection for Feniarco. The choir received prestigious awards and prizes in national and international choral competitions, including in the category of children voices choirs: gold medal and overall winner of category in the national choral competition of Quartiano (2009, 2012, 2015); overall first prize at the 44th national choral competition of Vittorio Veneto (2010); gold band at the international competition of Riva del Garda (2012); first prize and absolute winner of the Grand Prix at the 7th national choral competition Il Garda in Coro of Malcesine (2013) and prize for best director; first prize and overall category winner at the Riva del Garda international competition (2016) and best conductor award. In the youth choir category: gold medal at the Quartiano national choral competition (2012); gold band at the international competition of Riva del Garda in (2012, 2016); first prize and absolute winner of the 48th national choral competition of Vittorio Veneto (2014); Efrem Casagrande Grand Prix; gold medal and overall category winner at the Quartiano national choral competition (2015, 2016).
Debora Bria studied at the Conservatories G. Verdi of Turin and L. Cherubini of Florence, where she obtained a pianistic diploma under the guidance of G. Sacchetti. She studied composition under A. Ruo Rui, has attended ancient music masterclasses with E. Fadini, experimental didactics with D. Bartolini, 900s pianist music with G. Cascioli, choir conducting with L. Donati and M. Mora at “Fondazione G. d’ Arezzo”. She obtained an important award at the National Competition for children and youth choirs “Il Garda in Coro” of Malcesine as the best emergent conductor (2009) and as the best conductor in 2013. Moreover, she also won the prize as best conductor at the International Choir Competition, Riva del Garda 2016. She is the conductor and founder of the Artemusica Choir of Valperga, Tourin, with which she has an intensive activity and makes record productions. She also played duo pianistic works with C. Beltramo. She’s often invited to take part in the competion juries and to teach in choral singing workshops and seminars.
[youth female choir-preliminary round]
Preliminary round
Genova Vocal Ensemble
conductor: Roberta Paraninfo
Born in 1995, the Genova Vocal Ensemble is the oldest choir of the Vocal Academy of Genoa. The ensemble performs a large repertoire from Renaissance to contemporary music, mainly a cappella. It has been invited to several national and international festivals, including: 32th Musique en Morvan (France), 15th Festival des Choeurs Laurèats in Vaison la Romaine (France); 7th Europaisches Jugendchorfestival in Basel (Switzerland) and 7th International Koper Festival (Slovenia). The choir has realised three theatrical-musical operas produced by the Teatro C. Felice in Genoa: The hair of the devil, Totò Sapore and Malafante based on texts by R. Piumini and music by A. Basevi. It has curated several musical projects including: Pro festo innocentium with the Missa sub titulo Sancti Leopoldi and the Vespri Pro Festo Innocentium by M. Haydn to which have been added songs on commission to L. Donati; Vivaldi female with Magnificat and Gloria in the original version with equal voices; RomanticaMente, with pieces by F. Schubert, F. Mendelssohn, J. Brahms and J.G. Rheinberger. In 2014 it participated in the Defying gravity concert conducted by E. Whitacre at the Lincoln Center in New York. In 2015 it performed some pieces by the Genoese composer M. Trenti, of which a live cd / dvd was recorded. In 2017 the choir recorded the CD of Shakespeare Sonnets by M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco for Brilliant Classics. The group has participated in national and international choral competitions, obtaining several prizes and awards, among which, in recent years, the 1st prize cat. vocal groups at the 33rd national polyphonic competition G. d’Arezzo (2016), 1st prize cat. vocal groups, 1st prize for monographic repertoire, 1st prize for profane repertoire and 3rd prize for sacred repertoire at the 65th International Polyphonic Competition G. d'Arezzo (2017), 1st prize cat. vocal groups at the 15th J. Gallus International Choral Competition in Maribor, Slovenia (2019).
Roberta Paraninfo, pianist, conductor and professional teacher, since 1994 has founded and conducted several choral ensembles. Currently she conducts the choirs of the Vocal Academy of Genoa, which she founded in 2005: the children choir I Piccoli Cantori, the youth female choir Giovani Cantori, the mixed youth choir Sibi Consoni and the vocal group Genova Vocal Ensemble, winning with them several awards in national and international competitions. hSe also conducted the JanuaVox mixed choir, the Good News! Female choir, the Steffani chamber choir and the chorus the A. Steffani Choir of the Conservatory in Castelfranco Veneto (TV). For many years she has been involved in music education and choral development projects for primary school classes in Genoa and training courses for teachers and choir conductors all over Italy, on behalf of Feniarco and the Regional Associations. She taught choral music at the A. Steffani Conservatory in Castelfranco Veneto from 2014 to 2017. Together with G. Graden, she conducted the Italian Youth Choir for the two-years 2015-2016. She teaches piano accompaniment at the N. Paganini Conservatory in Genoa. She has received the best conductor prize for five times, in as many national and international choral competitions.
[youth mixed choir-preliminary round]
Semifinal round
Turin Chamber choir
conductor: Dario Tabbia
The Turin Chamber Choir was founded in 2008 on the initiative of its conductor Dario Tabbia to enhance the lesser known polyphonic repertoire. The choir performed concerts in important music festivals including MiTo Settembre Musica, Unione Musicale of Torino, Piemonte in Musica, Musici of Santa Pelagia, Teatro Bibiena of Mantua, Festival of the Via Francigena, Ruvo Coro Festival with a repertoire ranging from Renaissance to the music of the 20th century. It was invited to the International Festivals of Sassari, Cagliari and Porto Torres. In 2011 the group won a first prize and three special awards at the F. Chaffurio National Quartiano Choral Competition and in 2012 the first prize and the Feniarco Special Prize at the Guido d’Arezzo National Polyphonic Competition. In 2015 the choir was chosen as pilot choir for the international competition for young conductors in Turin and, in the same year, it toured the Netherlands with great success. In 2017 he was a finalist at the Grand Prize of the Maribor International Choral Competition (Slovenia) where it was awarded a special prize and in 2019 it won three first prizes, two special prizes and the E. Casagrande Grand Prize at the National Choral Competition City of Vittorio Veneto. Some of the most important Italian composers such as Giovanni Bonato, Elena Camoletto, Giuseppe Di Bianco, Franco Dominutti, Alessandro Ruo Rui and Mauro Zuccante, have composed pieces expressly for the choir. It regularly collaborates with Il Respiro è già Canto Choral Conducting School and it performed under the direction of K. Koetsveld, A. Sanna, L. Marzola and F.M. Bressan. The choir recorded the CDs: Voci, Made in Italy, a project entirely dedicated to Italian composers from the Renaissance to the present day, Passio Domini nostra Jesu Christi (attached to n. 60 of the Choraliter magazine) and Dieci on the occasion of the tenth anniversary.
Dario Tabbia graduated in choir conducting at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Turin, he performed in Italy and abroad. He conducted the University Choir of Turin and the vocal ensemble Daltrocanto with which he made recordings that have obtained important international awards (Diapason, Gramophone, Repertoire, Le monde de la musique), in addition to the Italian critics' award in 1996 and the Amadeus award in 1997. He has recorded for Opus 111, Nuova Era, Stradivarius, Arts, Symphonia and Bongiovanni. Jury member in prestigious national and international choral competitions, in 1991-92 he was the conductor of the symphonic choir of the RAI of Turin. In 2006 he supervised the revision of the book about choir conducting Il respiro è già canto by Fosco Corti and the following year he founded the school for choir conductors of the same name, where he teaches. In 2008 he founded the Turin Chamber Choir with which he won several awards and recorded four CDs. Since 1983 he has been teaching choral exercises at the G. Verdi Conservatory of Turin. He was a member of the Feniarco's Music Commission as well as a teacher at the Europa Cantat Festival Pécs 2015 . From 2011 to 2014 he was co-conductor of the Italian Youth Choir with which he won several first prizes at the Florilège Vocal de Tours in 2014.
[mixed choir - semifinal]
Semifinal round
Coenobium Vocale of Piovene Rocchette
conductor: Maria Dal Bianco
Engaged in concert activity and in the research and interpretation of repertoires belonging to various styles and historical-musical times, the Coenobium Vocale has established itself in several national and international choral competitions. The choir frequently collaborates with cultural institutions and associations such as La Fenice Theater in Venice, the Philharmonic Society of Trento, the MiTo Settembre Musica Festival, the Crucifixus Festival, the Olympic Academy of Vicenza, the Amici della Musica Association and the Quartet Society, the Operaestate festival, the Trento Ancient Music Festival, Galuppi Festival of Venice and Festival In Gregorian chant of Florence. It has collaborated with important names of Italian culture and theater and for the Levi Foundation of Venice and the University of Padua it has carried out several thematic projects on the Venetian School of the sixteenth century. It also staged, for the first time, the medieval liturgical drama Officium Stellae and thematic projects on G.S. Mercadante, Padre Davide from Bergamo, G. Sarto (Pio X), C. Ambrosini, G. Bonato, D. Clapasson, Z. Gárdonyi, M. Kerer, P. Ugoletti and P. Valtinoni. The choir has released the following CDs: Musica Dei donum (1996), Lux fulgebit (2002), Pio X - his music (2003), Saverio Mercadante, sacred music and opera style (Tactus, 2004), Cantate (2007), Spatium ( 2012), Confini (2015), Masters of the sixteenth century (2018). Some executions were broadcast on Rai Radio3. Recent projects include: the concert for the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice for the fifth centenary of Tintoretto's birth; the concert for the Levi Foundation in Venice on the occasion of the fifth centenary of G. Zarlino's birth; for AsiagoFestival 2019, the concert Masters of Venetian choral music between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the opening night of the Biblical Festival 2019; the award ceremony of the Rigoni Stern Literary Prize (2019) at Palazzo Labia, RAI headquarters in Venice.
Maria Dal Bianco graduated in composition, organ and organ composition, in choral music and choir conducting and in pre-polyphony, she attended master classes in organ with J. Langlais, M. Radulescu, A. Mitterhofer, and M. Torrent Serra , in Renaissance and Baroque execution practice with G. Acciai, L. Picotti and P. Neumann, in Gregorian chant with L. Agustoni, N. Albarosa, D.O. Damini, F. Rampi, J. Berchmans Gösch and D.D. Saulnier, in vocality with S. Woodbory and A. Grandini. Teacher at the conservatories of Cagliari, Bari, Turin and Brescia, she has been teaching organ practice, methods and Gregorian chant at the C. Pollini Conservatory of Padua. She has performed concerts as an organist and with instrumental and vocal groups. Since its foundation, she conducts the Cœnobium Vocale with which she won the best conductor prize at the national competitions of Quartiano and Vittorio Veneto. She elaborates and realises musical projects with important names of Italian culture and theater. Former member of the Artistic Commission of Asac and Feniarco, she collaborates with several associations, groups and institutions and has been part of the Diocese of Vicenza Sacred Art Commission. She is frequently invited to join juries in national and international choral and composition competitions.
[male choir - semifinal]
Final round
Zürcher Sing-Akademie
conductor: Florian Helgath
The Zürcher Sing-Akademie performed at the highest level in both chamber and symphonic settings. The Swiss choir works with many eminent orchestras both within Switzerland and internationally. The choir commissions new works and has presented many première performances; it also frequently performs a cappella programmes, and plays a prominent part in the promotion of Swiss composers, both historical and contemporary. Since its formation in 2011, the choir has collaborated with several conductors including B. Haitink, D. Zinman, D. Barenboim, R. Norrington, P. Heras-Casado, N. Järvi, G. Antonini, and R. Jacobs. Concert tours have taken the choir to Germany, Italy, Israel, the Netherlands, Lebanon, Taiwan, China, and as well as many European cities. Particular highlights include concerts at the BBC Proms in London, in the Philharmonie de Paris, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie Köln, and in the National Concert Hall Taipeh. In addition to its long association with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the choir regularly performs with acclaimed ensembles such as the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Hofkapelle München, and baroque orchestra La Scintilla. Some of the choir’s recording are: F. Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht with the Musikkollegium Winterthur conducted by D. Boyd (MDG, 2016), L. V. Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 with the Luzerner Sinfonie orchester and James Gaffigan (Sony, 2018), as well as a cappella works by the Swiss composer Walter Furrerconducted by F. Helgath (M&S Edition, 2018). Highlights of the 2019/20 season include the opening concerts of the new seasonof the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich with P. Järvi, concert tours with the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Kammerochester Basel, as well as the invitation to the 12th World Symposium on Choral Music in Auckland, (New Zealand 2020). Florian Helgath has been conductor and artistic conductor of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie since 2017.
Florian Helgath studied choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and graduated in 2008 with a Masters Degree. Among his most important teachers are M. Gläser, S. Parkman, D. O. Stenlund, Cleobury, H. Rilling, S. Halsey e J. van Veldhoven. As a prizewinner and finalist of the Eric Ericson Award 2006 and Competition for Young Choral Conductors in Budapest 2007, Florian Helgath had drawn the attention of the international choral music scene. He has been Artistic Director of the ChorWerk Ruhr and of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie. He has held the position as conductor of the Danish National Choir and Artistic Director of the Via Nova Chor Munich conducting several first performances and winning international prizes. He is also a regular guest conductor of the SWR Vokalensemble, RIAS Kammerchor, MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, Choir of the Bavarian Radio, Netherlands Radio Choir, Choeur de Radio France, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and he collaborates with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Bochum Symphony, Odense Symphony, Brussels Philharmonics, Münchner Symphoniker, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln and Ensemble Resonanz. His discography includes the CD Sacred Songs with the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir (ICMA Award 2017), works by G.P. da Palestrina and R. Wagner with the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, contemporary choral music with the Via Nova Chor as well as Missa in c – Stabat Mater by J.S. Mayrcon with the Orpheus Vokalensemble and Concerto Köln. For the album Da Pacem with the RIAS Kammerchor and Capella de la Torre he received the ECHO Klassik 2017. The recording of Tigran Mansurian's Requiem with RIAS Kammerchor and Munich Chamber Orchestra for ECM Records has been nominated for a Grammy in 2018.
[mixed professional choir-final]
