Dear friends,
We are coming to the end of this social year with many projects completed and others in the pipeline. If we look at what we have done in these two years, despite many difficulties, we can say that we have achieved something extraordinary.
Each event shone in terms of quality, professionalism and inventiveness.
The year 2021 saw the realisation of various initiatives; first of all the project “Creative Professionals: internationalisation of musical careers – 2021” for which ANDCI received the maximum score of 100/100 for the extra FUS funds from the Ministry of Culture. The cultural and educational importance of the initiative has also been recognised by important national and international institutions, which have shared in the partnership by supporting its implementation: the City of Assisi, the Dante Alighieri Society, the School of Music of the University of Missouri – Columbia (USA), the PH Publishers – Publisher of International Choral Music (Germany); each institution wanted to support and promote the project, in the conviction of the importance of enhancing Italian and international choral culture.
The current edition has therefore confirmed and expanded the proposals we undertook last year during an initial phase, implemented at the October 2020 assembly. In the preparatory phase, we did not know whether the health emergency would allow us to carry out what we were planning, but despite the difficulties, we bet on good fortune and so we involved highly valuable expertise and professional experience of international renown.
I want to reiterate that ANDCI has specific objectives to foster the cognitive experiential implementation process that is part of the individual process of long life learning, i.e. the lifelong learning of choral conductors.
We have organised the first edition of the International Choral Composition Competition on texts by Dante Alighieri entitled “…a riveder le stelle”, under the artistic direction of Mauro Marchetti and with the support of the Scientific Committee. The aim is to promote new choral compositions with poetic texts in Italian on an international level, as part of the celebrations planned for the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. 105 compositions from 16 countries were submitted. The international jury was composed as follows: Roberto Brisotto (Italy), Javier Busto (Spain), Alessandro Kirschner (Italy), Ko Matsushita (Japan), Vytautas Miškinis (Lithuania). Three winning works were awarded all the prizes: € 1,500 for the first – Al sommo d’una porta by Paolo Orlandi, € 750 for the second – Tutti li mei penser parlan d’amore by Eddy Serafini, and € 350 for the third – O Padre nostro by Michal Malec. These compositions have been published in the DIRIGO magazine and will be premiered respectively by: Coro Città di Roma (Italy), Batavia Madrigal Singers (Indonesia) and Sofia VokalEnsemble (Sweden). The performance is scheduled for March 2022 with video diffusion on various multimedia channels.
The International Choir Campus in Assisi was attended by 180 people. Courses, meetings, seminars, reading sessions. These are the activities carried out for which the masters gave their professional services: Z. Randall Stroope, R. Paul Crabb, Andrea Basevi, Angelo Bernardelli, Ennio Bertolotti, Roberto Brisotto, Manolo Da Rold, Padre Matteo Ferraldeschi, Claudio Ferrara, Elisa Gastaldon, Mario Giorgi, Anna Kaira, Alessandro Kirschner, Matteo Magistrali, Mauro Marchetti, Enrico Miaroma, Cristina Maugeri, Paolo Orlandi, Stefano Puri, Franco Radicchia, Maurizio Santoiemma, Catharina Scharp, Riccardo Schioppa, Annalisa Spadolini, Giorgio Susana, Tommaso Ziliani.
The interesting topics covered are: Emerging American Authors, Gregorian Chant, Orthodox Chant, Code of Las Huelgas, Meetings with Authors, Laudario of Cortona, Italian Polyphony, Italian Popular and Pop, Basic and Advanced Conducting Technique, Vocal Technique, Workshops and Training for Directors of Children’s Choirs and School Choirs, and Music in the Italian School System.
The 12 tracks presented for the Reading Session were published by Sonitus under the title ANDCI Collection Vol. I.
The success of Assisi is also reflected in the presence of Senator Loredana Russo, member of the 7th Permanent Commission – Public Education, Cultural Heritage, who attended the Campus.
ANDCI continues its activities on 27 and 28 November in Assisi with the second annual project won and financed by the MIC: “Cantiamo… la voce” (Let’s sing… the voice), curated by Elisa Gastaldon: a didactic-musical course for children’s and school choirs in which the children explore the world of sounds, rhythm and voice, in time, space and their dynamics. This course provides didactic ideas for choral workshops and musical literacy, also aimed at directors of compulsory school choirs.
The online conference Il Maestro di Cappella Oggi (The Chapel Master Today), dedicated to the study and analysis of the role of the chapel master and the musician working in the Catholic Church, is very important.
Illustrious speakers are involved, such as M° Mons. Denis Silano, musician and musicologist, director of the Cappella Musicale della Cattedrale di Vercelli, M° Mons. Gilberto Sessantini, musician, Prior of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, M° Mons. Valentino Miserachs-Grau, dean emeritus of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, director emeritus of the Cappella Musicale “Liberiana” of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, M° Mons. Giuseppe Liberto, director emeritus of the Cappella Musicale Pontificia “Sistina”.
The editors of the conference were our members: Roberto Brisotto, Fr Matteo Ferraldeschi ofm and Enrico Vercesi.
The National Choir of Italian Choral Directors also comes to life. ANDCI wants to offer an opportunity for choir directors and composers to meet periodically, in order to increase the production of Italian choral music, and to create a moment of sharing and study under the direction of various directors who will take turns to conduct this group. Seven compositions by Simone Campanini, Salvo Gangi, Pietro Ferrario, Paolo La Rosa, Annalia Nardelli, Marco Schunnach, Eddy Serafini performed by the National Choir and published by Sonitus for ANDCI Collection Vol. II. The concert, open to the public, will be in Salerno Cathedral on 28 December, conducted by Roberto Tofi.
ANDCI also promoted and implemented the foundation of the International Federation Choir Directors Associations, the new international federation whose members include, in addition to Italy, the choir directors’ associations of Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, the Philippines, Japan, Great Britain, Mexico, Serbia, Spain and Turkey. A federation whose aim is to promote the initiatives of each national association in a world circuit that has common and shared interests.
Lastly, I would like to point out that this year ANDCI completed the process required by the law on publishing to register the DIRIGO magazine with the Court of Rovereto.
New and interesting initiatives await us in the future. My invitation to everyone is therefore to renew their participation in the association with confidence, in the knowledge that each professionalism can only be enhanced in a quality context that is already institutionally recognised, and that opens up with its own strengths in international peer contexts.
Professor of Flute at the Conservatory of Music in Avellino. Visiting Professor at Truman State University, University of Columbia-Missouri (USA), Silla University of Busan (South Korea), Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music (Nagoya – Japan). He has given concerts in Italy, Austria, Holland, Greece, Poland, South Korea, USA, China and Japan. As director of the Youth Orchestra of the Avellino Conservatory of Music, he has given concerts in Italy, Lithuania, Turkey. In the Conservatory he collaborates with Rosario Totaro in workshops for vocal ensembles. He started choral conducting courses with Guido Messore. He has attended courses at the Advanced Training School for Choir Directors of the “Guido D’Arezzo” Foundation. He is the director of the Laeti Cantores Choir of Salerno and of the Vocal Ensemble Academia. He has held choral masterclasses at VDU University in Kaunas (Lithuania) and at the University Of Winchester (UK). He conducted, as guest director, in France (Ensemble Vocale LA SESTINA of Nice), in Japan (Chamber Choir of the Aichi Prefectural University of Nagoya), in the UK (Winchester Consort, Chamber Choir of the University Of Winchester and the Vocal Ensemble ACADEMIA) at the local cathedral. He is a member of ACDA (American Choral Directors Association).
