Preliminary round
National Youth Choir (Coro Giovanile Italiano)
conductor: Filippo Maria Bressan

Conceived by Feniarco in 2003, the Italian Youth Choir is a youth selection of Italian choral music, led by exceptional musicians, a training workshop, an experience that leaves fruitful imprints on the territory, a choir aiming at excellence. The 40 young singers, aged between 18 and 28, come from different regions and from a variety of musical experiences and periodically renew themselves, bringing energy, vitality and passion. Over the years, internationally renowned conductors such as Filippo Maria Bressan, Nicola Conci, Stojan Kuret, Lorenzo Donati with Dario Tabbia, Gary Graden with Roberta Paraninfo, Luigi Marzola with Carlo Pavese, and Petra Grassi with Davide Benetti have taken turns leading the Coro Giovanile Italiano. The choir has taken part in the Festival Europa Cantat four times (Mainz 2006, Turin 2012, Pécs 2015 and Tallinn 2018) and, in 2014, won three first prizes at the Florilège Vocal de Tours and then performed with The Rolling Stones in the concert at the Circo Massimo in Rome in front of 60 thousand spectators. The choir performed more than 150 in Italy. Noteworthy are the participation in MiTo Settembre Musica from 2016 to 2022, the Sagra Musicale Umbra and the Reggia di Caserta in 2017, the season of the Fondazione Pietà dei Turchini and for Matera 2019 European Capital of Culture. In 2021, it gave a concert for Parma Italian Capital of Culture, while in 2022 performed for the inauguration of the 70th Guido d'Arezzo International Polyphonic Competition, at the Baths of Diocletian in Rome, in the Cathedral of Orvieto and in Procida, Italian Capital of Culture. Engagements in 2023 included the concert held on 2 June in the gardens of the Quirinale in front of President Sergio Mattarella on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the Italian Republic and participation with two concerts in Bergamo and Brescia Italian Capital of Culture.

[mixed choir-preliminary round]

Filippo Maria Bressan is one of those secluded conductors and far from the stereotype of the globetrotting artist but he is also one of the few Italian conductors to be invited to conduct orchestras and groups of the highest prestige, such as Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra & Choir, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Teatro La Fenice Orchestra & Choir in Venice. Regular guest of the main concert societies and of the major symphonic, ancient and contemporary music festivals - such as Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Biennale di Venezia, MiTo Settembre Musica, Sagra Musicale Umbra-, among his many experiences he has had the opportunity to work alongside musicians such as C. Abbado, L. Berio, F. Brüggen, M.W. Chung, C.M. Giulini, L. Maazel, M. Nyman, A. Pärt , G. Prêtre, M. Rostropovich, G. Sinopoli. Eclectic, unconventional, sporting and anti-social media, he has chosen to follow his passions rather than an obligatory career, selecting both the repertoire and the concert and musical activity in general. While a preference for Italy, he has also conducted in various theaters and concert halls in Europe and South America, ranging from the Overture by J.S. Bach to Rendering by L. Berio, from Handel's Oratories to various operas by Mozart, Gluck, Rossini and some Verdi, collaborating with many soloists such as P. Berman, R. Brautigam, R. Buchbinder, M. Campanella, B. Canino, A. Carbonare, G. Carmignola, P. De Maria, E. Dindo, M. Fröst, A. Lucchesini, B. Lupo, S. Mingardo, M. Pletnev, G. Sollima, and for many years he has dedicated himself - until its closure in 2009 - to the Athestis Chorus & Academia de li Musici, a professional choir and orchestra ensemble with period instruments. With a constant passion for the choir and the symphonic-choral repertoire, he was the youngest choir master of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (2000-2002), has conducted many other choral ensembles including the World Youth Choir (2005 and 2016), Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Estonian National Male Choir, Italian Youth Choir, Le Choeur National des Jeunes and the choirs of various Opera Houses in opera and lyric-symphonic productions and with different choral ensembles he won won five first and two second prizes in national and international competitions. He was a member of the artistic commission of Feniarco and of European Choral Association, has recorded for the RAI and radio and television stations in many countries and he has recorded for Amadeus, Chandos Records, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Virgin.

Preliminary round
With Us Youth Choir (Coro Giovanile With Us) - Rome
conductor: Camilla Di Lorenzo

Semifinal round
Torino Chamber Choir (Coro da camera di Torino) - Turin
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. In 2023 at the 71st 'Guido d' Arezzo' International Polyphonic Competition, he won three first prizes and the prestigious 'Gran Premio Città di Arezzo'.

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 (2014). In 2022 he published Il direttore di coro, an educational volume on choir conducting published by Feniarco.

[mixed choir - semifinal]

Semifinal round
Coro polifonico di Ruda 
conductor: Fabiana Noro

Founded in the 1920s and re-founded in 1945, the Ruda Polyphonic Choir has always been a male-voice choir and has given concerts all over the world: from Canada to Russia, from the United States to Mongolia, from China to the Philippines, from Argentina to Brazil and in almost all European countries. The choir - which has published thirteen CDs, including 'Perle', an excursus on romantic and early 20th-century music, Ricuardi un timp, an anthology of traditional and popular Friulian songs, Riflessi, entirely dedicated to contemporary polyphony, and most recently a monographic CD on Josef Rheinberger - is also active in the field of publishing with the publication of music by authors from Friuli Venezia Giulia in the 18th and 19th centuries and the series 'Organs and Organ Traditions of Friuli Venezia Giulia'. It has won over 60 prizes at the most important regional, national and international choral competitions. The group collaborates with leading Italian orchestras in the production of symphonic-choral works (Requiem in D minor by L. Cherubini, Alto Rhapsody by J. Brahms, Seirenes by A. Domini, Canti rocciosi by G. Sollima, etc.) and regularly participates in national and international festivals of classical and choral music. It has also won the Nonino Risit d'aur, Moret d'aur, Croce di Malta and Epiphany awards. The choir starred in the soundtrack of R. Carbonera's film 'Resina', a finalist for the 2019 Golden Globes.

Fabiana Noro brilliantly graduated in piano and attended the courses of composition, choral music and choir conducting. She has performed extensively in concerts in Italy and abroad, accompanying singers of international renown, and has been a collaborating teacher in many advanced courses for opera singers, including those held by C. Desderi in Duino, Ms. K. Ricciarelli at the opera academy in Desenzano del Garda, and Ms. R. Kabaivanska, with whom she has also given several concerts. From a very young age, she dedicated herself to choral music and had the chance to distinguish herself conducting various ensembles including the Diapason chamber choir and many prestigious orchestras. She was Choir Master at the Opera House 'Pierluigi da Palestrina' in Cagliari for many opera-symphonic productions, including Carmen, La Bohéme, I Pescatori di Perle, Mahler's Second Symphony, Verdi's Requiem, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Since January 2003, she is the conductor of the Coro Polifonico di Ruda, Italian Male Choir, with which, in addition to holding numerous concerts in many European and non-European countries, she has participated in the most important international choral competitions (Arezzo, Tallinn, Barcelona, Malaga, Graz, Linz, Vittorio Veneto, Vienna, Shaoxing, Rimini, London Derry, Matera, Cork). With this ensemble she has won over forty first prizes, and in several of these competitions she was awarded best conductor. She is often invited to serve on juries in national and international choral competitions. She was appointed as the new conductor of the FVG Regional Choir for the three-year period 2024-2026.  
©photocredits: Pathosmultimedia/F. Ruzzier

[male choir - semifinal]

Final round
S:t Jacobs Chamber Choir of Stockholm (Sweden)
conductor: Gary Graden

S:t Jacobs Chamber Choir, with the conductor Gary Graden, performs regularly at concerts and services in S:t Jacob’s church and the Stockholm Cathedral. Located in the heart of Stockholm, these two churches are a renowned center for church music in Sweden. The choir’s repertoire consists of a cappella works from a wide range of national styles and periods, as well as larger works for choir and orchestra. Over the years, the choir has commissioned över 80 choral work. The choir has won several of Europe’s most important competitions including the European Grand Prix for choral music and it was awarded the Guidoneum Award from the Fondazione Guido D’Arezzo in Italy. The choir has also participated in a wide array of national and international festivals such as the IFCM World Symposium in Minneapolis, Sagra Musicale Umbra in Italy, the Tolosa Festival in Spain, Musica Sacra in Germany, Polyfollia in France, Debrecen Festival in Hungary, and De Internationale Koorbiënnale Haarlem in Holland, the Conference for Swedish Choral Conductors, and the Scandinavian Symposium for Sacred Music. In 2014, the choir assisted the Rolling Stones at their concert in Stockholm, and in 2018 they performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with conductor Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Choir, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Ever since the first edition in 2003, the choir has been the semi-final choir at the prestigious Eric Ericson award. In later years, the choir has performed pieces such as Alfred Schnittke Psalms of Repentance, Händel Messiah, Bach St Matthew Passion as well premiered new music. The choir has also enjoyed several visits to Italy and Perugia especially, performing at the Concorso di Composizione Premio «Francesco Siciliani», and much more. S:t Jacobs Chamber Choir has also enjoyed collaboration with orchestras such as REbaroque, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, the Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra, Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato (Italy), the Ensemble Philidor (France), I Solisti di Perugia (Italy), and the Estonian Chamber Orchestra. In addition to this, they have also joined forces with a wide array of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists.  

Graden is presently Director of choral music at the Stockholm Cathedral and S:t Jacobs Church. He has also been on the faculty of Stockholm´s Musikgymnasium where he founded and conducted the Stockholm Musikgymnasium´s Chamber Choir. With this choir and the S:t Jacobs Chamber Choir he has won grand prizes and first prizes in many of Europe´s most prestigious competitions, including the European Grand Prize. He has also participated in a wide array of national and international festivals. Graden is a frequent guest as conductor, teacher and adjudicator throughout the world. He has commissioned and premiered more than one hundred works, and performed a wide array of larger works for choir and orchestra. He has enjoyed collaboration with several regional and international orchestras orchestras and his work as conductor and singer is documented on many radio and more than 30 CD recordings including recordings of the Bach Motets and St. John Passion, and Handel’s Messiah. Graden is the recipient of the 1998 "Johannes Norrby medal" for his contribution to Swedish choral music, and was elected Sweden´s Choral Conductor of the Year in 2005. In 2009 he was awarded the Guidoneum Award from the Fondazione Guido D´Arezzo in Italy, in 2015 the S:ta Cecilia Prize awarded by the Stockholm diocese of the Swedish Church, and in 2020 the medal Litteris et Artibus awarded by the King of Sweden.
©photocredits: Staffan Engwall, Magnus Aronson

[mixed professional choir-final]