The “Michele Novaro” competition for young composers gets underway

Rome, 1st June 2016 - The Michele Novaro Competition officially kicks off, conceived to pay homage to the author of the notes accompanying the verses of Goffredo Mameli of the Italian national anthem and aimed at young composers, called to write a new original music that reflects the identity, culture and spirit of contemporary Italy. A composition that is not destined to replace "Il Canto degli Italiani", better known as "Fratelli d'Italia", but that can inspire new reflections and ideal impulses consistent with the founding and distinctive values of our country. The Competition, promoted by the Mendelssohn Association in collaboration with the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Turin and with the support of Italgas, is open to composers of any nationality who have not reached the age of 30 September 2016, the deadline for the delivery of manuscripts. The rules are available on the website www.concorsonovaro.it, together with instructions for participation and uploading of compositions and attached documents. Participants must submit to the jury a composition for Ensemble, lasting between 7 and 10 minutes, which is inspired by the values and themes of the Constitution and in particular by the "Italian landscape", which is based on Article 9 of the Constitutional Charter. The staff must be made up of at least 7 instruments up to a maximum of 15, including violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute-piccolo, clarinet- bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, harp, percussion and piano. During the preliminary phase, which will end at the end of October, the jury - composed by composers Luca Lombardi (president), Cristian Carrara and Giulio Castagnoli, pianist Roberto Prosseda and Elio from the group Elio e le Storie Tese - will select up to a maximum of 3 scores that will enter the final phase. The final evening - which will see the Hon. Lorenzo Becattini, creator of the Competition presented last November at the Camera dei Deputati - will take place on December 2, 2016 in the Sala Grande of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Turin, where the E nsemble di Musica Contemporanea of the Conservatory, conducted by Giuseppe Ratti, will play the finalist compositions in concert. At the end of the event will be proclaimed the winner of the Novaro Prize, which includes the publication of the work by the publisher Sonzogno and its performance in some selected concerts, as well as a financial award. The project, which aims to remember the figure of Michele Novaro (1818-1885) more than 160 years after the writing of the "Canto degli Italiani", composed at only 25 years old at the height of the Risorgimento, provides for three editions, each of which focuses on a specific theme. The award ceremony for each of these will take place in three cities that have been capitals of Italy: after Turin it will be the turn of Florence and then Rome.