Associazione Corale Goriziana C.A. Seghizzi is pleased to introduce the jury for the 20th International Choir and Solo Composition Competition “Seghizzi.”

Artistic Director and President of the Jury

Pietro Ferrario

Born in Busto Arsizio (VA) in 1967, after starting his musical studies with Mariateresa Nebuloni, he pursued a thirty-year career in choir direction, leading various vocal formations in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Simultaneously, he began his career as a composer, studying and refining his skills, including mentorship from Franco Donatoni. He also studied Gregorian chant under the guidance of Prof. Nino Albarosa.

A significant portion of his work is focused on choral music, earning him awards and recognition in numerous national and international choir competitions. Notably, in 2007, he won the IV International Choral Composition Trophy “C.A. Seghizzi,” and in 2014, he received the first prize at the II International Competition for the composition of sacred music “Francesco Siciliani,” promoted by Fondazione Perugia Musica Classica Onlus and the Pontifical Council for Culture. In 2013, his composition “Deafening Silence” was selected among the fifteen finalists out of 637 entries in the Second International Competition for Choral Music, promoted by the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM). In 2017, he composed “Multi unum corpus sumus” for Feniarco, performed by a thousand choristers in the Basilica di S. Maria Novella in Florence as part of the “Officina Corale del Futuro” project and the “Festival di Primavera” in Montecatini Terme. Also in 2017, he was chosen by the International Federation for Choral Music to be one of the fifteen international composers commissioned to create a new work for the “11th World Symposium on Choral Music” in Barcelona, Spain.

His compositions have been performed by prestigious interpreters, including the Italian Youth Choir, the National French Youth Choir (A Coeur Joie), the World Youth Choir, the St. Jacob’s Chamber Choir of Stockholm, The University of Pretoria Camerata, the Turin Vocalensemble, the Choir of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Regional Youth Choir of Friuli Venezia Giulia, and are published by Pizzicato, Feniarco, and USCI FVG.

Currently, he serves as the Artistic Director of the Unione Società Corali Friulane and is a member of the Artistic Commission of U.S.C.I. Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Jury Commission

Eugeniusz Kus

Born in 1940 in Gniezno, Poland, Eugeniusz Kus initiated his musical education at the Academy of Music at the University of Poznan. He continued his studies at the Academy of Music in Warsaw, the Königs Konservatorium de L’Aia in Rotterdam, and the University of Music in Vienna. In 1974, he was appointed director of the Cultural Center of the Stettino region. Adding to this role, from 1992 to 2007, he also served as the director of the most significant cultural center in Pomerania, located in the castle of the Princes of Pomerania in Stettino, managing international activities in art, culture, and music. This commitment lasted uninterrupted for 33 years at a high level.

He founded and led the University Choir of Stettino (1969-2005), which performed concerts in almost all European countries and twice in the USA. In 1984, he established the vocal-instrumental ensemble “Camerata Nova,” specializing in baroque music and compositions by contemporary composers. The ensemble has given numerous concerts in Europe, the USA, Brazil, and China, featuring works by Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Duruflé, Kodály. He has also conducted other professional orchestras with extensive repertoires from the 18th century to contemporary works.

Kus has been a jury member in many international music competitions in Italy, Germany, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, China. He is the founder and artistic director of the International Choir Festival in Stettino and the Music Festival in Kołobrzeg. Additionally, he serves as the music director of the International Organ and Chamber Music Festival in Kamien Pomorski.

He is a member of the National Council for Music in Poland and has been awarded the “Medal of Merit” by the Presidents of the Republic of Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 2010, he has been a professor at the Academy of Arts in Stettino, having previously taught at the Academy of Music in Poznan from 2003 to 2010.

In 2016, the Seghizzi Association decided to award the “12th International Seghizzi Prize” for a lifetime dedicated to music and choral direction to Eugeniusz Kus. This recognition not only acknowledges his indisputable artistic and professional merits but also commemorates his many years of collaboration with the International Chamber Singing Competition Seghizzi and the International Choral Singing Competition, where he served as president and jury member.

His decades-long positive relationship with the “Seghizzi” association, solid international experience, extensive artistic and musical expertise, significant proficiency in foreign languages, diverse roles held, constant willingness to collaborate, attention to the younger generation, and managerial skills in the cultural sector make him exceptionally well-suited to assume the delicate and decisive role of artistic director of the Seghizzi International Music Events. This appointment signifies continuity with the past and openness to all new musical and cultural challenges that the Seghizzi Association intends to address.

 

Patrick Quaggiato

(Born in Gorizia in 1983), he began his musical journey at the Music Institute of the “Città di Gorizia” Music Foundation, which awarded him the study prize in 1999 and the prize for the best exam in 2003/04. He then continued his studies at the “Giuseppe Tartini” Conservatory in Trieste, graduating in Composition and Choral Conducting, as well as in Percussion Instruments. He attended the three-year training course for band conductors with instructor Daniele Carnevali.

Currently, he teaches percussion and drums at the music schools Glasbena matica and Emil Komel. He has conducted music courses in various compulsory schools and at the University of Nova Gorica (Slovenia). He has directed the Città di Cormons Band, the “Kras” Band of Doberdò del Lago, the Civic Wind Orchestra “Giuseppe Verdi” in Trieste, the Provincial Anbima Band in Gorizia, the Ars Atelier Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Glasbena matica, the International Youth Orchestra of the music schools of Spittal, Kočevje, Trieste, and Porcia, the mixed choir “Rado Simoniti” from the Slovenian Collio, the Sraka Vocal Group, the Female Chamber Choir Plejade from Aidussina (Slovenia), the mixed and youth choirs F.B. Sedej from San Floriano del Collio, the transborder vocal group Mozaik, and has collaborated with the Academic Choir of the University of Primorska in Koper (Slovenia). He was part of the Slovenian project choir in 2003 and the Italian youth choir in the 2007/08 season. He was a co-founder and conductor of the “Città di Monfalcone” Youth Band. In the summer of 2015, he was the artistic and effective director of the first Slovenian band camp in Italy.

He is actively involved in concert activities throughout Europe. As a percussionist, he has played in significant orchestras and groups, ranging from baroque to jazz. Since 2006, he has been the master of the percussion section of the Regional Youth Band Anbima of Friuli Venezia Giulia. He has collaborated in the recording of various CDs and DVDs, also as a producer, and has had the opportunity to work alongside important artists.

His experience as a chorister in Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen” at the Arena di Verona in 1995 led him to composition. In 2001, he won the composition prize for the millennium of Gorizia. Later, he published three collections of his choral compositions, and a CD of his pieces performed by various Italian and Slovenian choral groups was recorded. His compositions appear on numerous other CDs and collections published in Italy, Slovenia, and Austria. His pieces are included in the repertoires of choral concerts on almost every continent, as well as in international competitions, where choirs have often received special awards for outstanding performances of his compositions. In 2010 and 2014, his pieces were awarded as the best novelties in the two major Slovenian competitions (Zagorje ob Savi and Maribor). His name appeared among six others in the International Choral Bulletin as a reference composer of the generation of young composers operating in Slovenia. Numerous commissions for new compositions continue to come his way, including those written for the Orchestra and Choir of the Slovenian Philharmonic, for Rai Trieste, and for the SToP, who, along with the Orchestra of the Slovenian Radio and Television, performed his piece “Oj ta boben” in a live television broadcast during the gala evening for the presentation of the highest cultural awards in Slovenia. He has also written music for various theatrical productions for both children and adults, including musicals.

Vytautas Miskinis

In his prestigious career as a choir conductor, he has directed numerous polyphonic vocal ensembles and currently serves as a professor of choral conducting at the Lithuanian Music Academy. He is also the president of the Lithuanian Choir Union and the artistic director of the prestigious All-Lithuanian Choir Festival. After earning his degree in choral conducting in 1976, he directed the Azuoliukas Boys’ and Men Choir and the Kaunas State Choir and Vocal Ensemble Museum Musicum, choirs with which he won the most prestigious international choral competitions.

As a composer, he has created over 100 motets for a cappella choir, thirteen masses, a Magnificat, and around 300 secular songs. His works have won practically all the world’s most prestigious choral composition competitions, establishing him as one of the foremost living figures in this field. He has published his music across Europe and in the United States.

In addition to his compositional activities, Miškinis is actively involved in promoting choral singing. He participates in conferences and seminars, collaborating with numerous choral associations. In Italy, he recently conducted a significant choral singing seminar, collaborating with the polyphonic choir Renato Portelli of Mariano del Friuli. In November 2007, he was invited by the Choral Association of Tuscany to teach at the prestigious course “Le Voci del Novecento” (The Voices of the Twentieth Century). He also serves as a jury member in choral and composition competitions.

Gabriele Saro

Gabriele Saro is an award-winning artist and composer, motivated by two distinct aptitudes: a rational and scientific side, and an artistic and creative one. He holds a diploma in scientific studies and a degree in Business Economics, along with a diploma in Violin and a Master’s in Music in Film Composition. Despite these diverse paths, Gabriele manages to seamlessly combine them.

Several interests have influenced Gabriele’s artistic journey, including anthropology, biology, and science fiction. However, music and composition stand out as the most significant activities that characterize his days. He is an award-winning composer in both national and international composition competitions, spanning serious and popular music genres. Among his accomplishments, he is a winner at the UK Songwriting Contest and has achieved TOP 10 rankings in two editions of the USA Songwriting Competition, accumulating approximately 50 awards in total, making him the most awarded young composer in Italy. As a producer, he was nominated for the GRAMMY Awards in 2022.

On digital platforms, numerous albums and compilations are attributed to Gabriele Saro and Gabe Saro, covering a wide range of genres from classical and new age to electronic, rock, and R&B. His music is extensively featured on radio, TV, commercials, shows, and films in the United States and abroad. Many of his songs are programmed on over 350,000 radios in 250 countries and territories, spanning 5 continents, with billions of plays worldwide. His music videos have been showcased on 750 shows and major TV networks in the USA and over 200 TV channels in Italy.

His classical/new age compositions have received international acclaim and are broadcasted on hundreds of radio stations and over 200 TV channels. His choral and orchestral music, published by UNIVERSAL EDITION (WIEN), ALLIANCE MUSIC PUBLICATIONS (U.S.A.), EDITION ICOT (JAPAN), USCI FVG, and MUSICHE D’ INCANTO (ITALY), has been performed and recorded in various concerts in Italy and abroad. Choral concerts featuring his music regularly take place in Italy, Poland, Spain, Norway, Austria, England, France, Slovenia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Slovakia, Canada, and the Philippines.

en_GBEnglish (UK)
Scroll to Top