Competition 2007

with the piece “Braided Fractures” for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola and cello

Panayiotis Kokoras (Greece, 1974) completed his PhD course at the University of York in England and in September 2003 he returned to Greece. He is currently teaching Electroacoustic Composition at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and he is President of the (HELMCA) Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers Association.

His array of achievements includes commissions from the IRCAM (Paris), FROMM (Harvard University), MATA (New York) and more than 27 distinctions and prizes at international competitions among others Pierre Schaeffer 2005 (Italy), Musica Viva 2005 and 2002 (Portugal), Gaudeamus 2004 and 2003 (The Netherlands), Bourges Residence Prix 2004 (France), Insulae Electronicae 2003 (Italy), Jurgenson Competition 2003 (Russia), Seoul international competition 2003 (Korea). Furthermore, his works are regularly performed at international festivals and concert series throughout Europe, Asia and America. His music appears in 14 CD compilations by Miso Musica, SAN / CEC, Independent Opposition Records, ICMC2004, LOSS, Host Artists Group, Musica Nova, Computer Music Journal (MIT Press) and others.

with the piece “Schianto” for flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, violin, viola, cello and piano

Carlo Ciceri was born in La Spezia in 1980. He obtained diplomas in piano (Conservatory “Puccini”, La Spezia), musicology (University of Pavia-Cremona) and ensemble conducting (Conservatory of Italian Switzerland, Lugano).
He attended composition courses and master classes (Ircam, Acanthes, Impuls Akademie, Irmus), where he met among others B. Ferneyhough, B. Furrer, K. Huber, H. Lachenmann, S. Sciarrino.

At present, he is studying composition with J. Baboni-Schilingi, N. Vassena e G. Verrando.

His works have been awarded prizes and recognitions and have been performed in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

with the piece “Di fragili incanti” for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano

mone Movio (1978) is presently studying at the J. Tomadini Conservatory of Music in Udine in the class of Renato Miani.

His encounters with Beat Furrer at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz (2005/2006) and at IMPULS 2005 and 2007 and with Stefano Gervasoni at the Accademia Tema in Milan have been fundamental in his education.

Finalist at the International Composition Competition “Dresden 2006-Klang-Stadt-Stille”, he won the first absolute prize at the 3rd Composition Competition “Città di Varese”.

His works have been performed on several occasions, among them Dresda 2006 (Elole Piano Trio), Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Iperbole: meeting with the poet Andrea Zanzotto.
He is also a writer.

with the piece “Mouthpiece VIII.i” for flute, clarinet, percussion, viola and cello

Erin Gee obtained a Bachelor of Music and Masters’ of Arts in piano performance with Réne Lecuona and composition with Lawrence Fritts at the University of Iowa. From 2001 to 2005 she studied with Beat Furrer at the Kuns Universität Graz (Austria). In 2005 she was Resident Artist at the Akiyoshidai International Art Village (Japan).

She was awarded several prizes, among them the Samuel Barber Rome Prize (2007), the International Rostrum of Composers “Selected Piece” (2007), the Judith Lang Zaimont Prize (2006), Look & Listen Festival Prize New York (2005), Publicity Prize SKE Fund Austria (2005), the state scholarship for composition Austria (2005) and the Impuls Composition Prize (2004).

with the piece “El espacio interior” for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and cello

Juan María Cué studied cello with Alexander Fedorchenko and Mikhail Milman, composition with Leonardo Balada and José Luis de Delás; at present, he is continuing his studies in composition with Mauricio Sotelo. He has attended master classes and seminars with H. Lachenmann, S. Sciarrino, K. Saariaho and M. Sotelo, participating also in the INJUVE Composition Meetings ’04, ’05 and ’06.

Among his various prizes are the Instituto Nacional de Juventud 2005, “Joaquín Turina” 2004 (Seville), Principate of Asturias 2002, Mention of Honour of the Gianni Bregamo Classic Music Award 2007 (Lugano, Switzerland).
His compositions have been played and recorded on CD by Proyecto Guerrero (Madrid), Grup Instrumental de Valencia y Joan Cerveró, EK Ensemble Contemporáneo de Asturias, Weber Trío, etc.

Gianni Bergamo was born in Milan, Italy in 1941, attended primary school in Italy and Liceo in Switzerland. After a degree in Economy (1964) at the Catholic University of Milan, he dedicated himself to the study of music with Tissoni (harmony and composition), D. Maffeis (organ) and N. Sanzogno (orchestra conducting) at the Conservatory of Bergamo, Italy.
From 1964 to 1994 has been a businessman with his own import-export, real estate and finance companies, though at the same time he has remained close to music and to its world.
In 1990 he created the Cultural Association “Gli Amici Cantori”, first as a chorus alone, then later accompanied by an orchestra. He has given many concerts in Italy with them, preferring the symphonic-sacred repertoire (masses, oratories, passions, etc.). At present, he lives in Santiago del Chile.

Urs Frauchiger was born in Emmental in 1936 and was cellist of the Berner Reis-Quartett for 20 years. He was director of the Conservatory and Music High School in Bern, general secretary of the European Music High Schools and director of the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia.

He is honorary professor of the Bern University. An important ambassador for music in different mass media, he is a jury member in international music competitions such as the Concours Internationale d’éxécution musicale in Geneva, the Credit SuisseYoung Artist Award, and also in Vienna and Lucerne.

Beat Furrer was born in Schaffhausen (Switzerland) in 1954. After moving to Vienna in 1975, he studied conducting with Otmar Suitner and composition with Roman Haubenstock Ramati. In 1984 he won the composers competitions “The Young Generation in Europe” in Cologne, of the Venice Biennale and of the “Festival d'Automne” in Paris. In 1985 he founded the Klangforum Wien  which he still conducts.

Commissioned by the Vienna State Opera, he composed his first opera Die Blinden with a successful debut at the Wien Modern Festival” in 1989. The premiere of “Face de la Chaleur” for flute and orchestra was conducted by Claudio Abbado at the Musikverein in Vienna. The debut of “nuun”, concert for piano and orchestra took place at the Salzburg Festival in 1996.

Furrer is professor for composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz,, where his second opera Narcissus was premiered in 1994 as part of the Festival “steirischer Herbst”.

Beat Furrer is member of the member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin and lives in Kritzendorf, near Vienna.

Marcello Parolini was born in Milan, and received his diploma at the “G. Verdi” Conservatory of Milan in piano (with the highest marks) with L. Leonardi and in composition with S. Gorli and U. Rotondi. He is active above all as chamber musician in different formations, dedicating himself to the diffusion of contemporary music. He is conductor of the “Ensemble Traiettorie Sonore” in Como and has been invited to conduct the “Ensemble Musica XX”, the choir of the “Nuova Polifonica Ambrosiana” and collaborates with the “Coro Filarmonico” in Brescia and the “Coro Orlando di Lasso”.

He has played with the “Ensemble Nuove Sincronie” (with recordings for Radio France, BBC, RAI and discs for the Ricordi and Stradivarius labels), with the “Divertimento Ensemble”, the “Tactus Ensemble”, the “G. Cantelli Orchestra”, the “G. Verdi Orchstra” and the “Orchestra Milano Classica”. For over 10 years, he has been the piano accompanist of the famous harmonica player Willi Burger, with whom he has recorded for Eucled, Agorà e Curci.

He is winner of several competitions and has played for many festivals, foundations and associations in Italy and abroad. He conducted the “Atelier Musicale del XX secolo”, “Officina Musicale”, “Provincia Sonora”, “Merate Musica” and other ensembles.

Beside his vast teaching activity, he is director of the Scuola Civica di Musica in Cassano d’Adda.

Born in Balerna, Switzerland in 1970. Nadir Vassena studied composition in Milano with Bruno Zanolini and with Johannes Schöllhorn in Freiburg i.B. 

In 1993 he participated in composition courses in Royaumont, held by Brian Ferneyhough. He has been invited to numerous international festivals and awarded prizes on various occasions; in 1992 to the Competition of the WDR of Köln, Germany, in 1994 to the Institut für Neue Musik der Hochschule der Künste of Berlin (first prize ex aequo), in 1997 to the Mozart-Wettbewerb of Salzburg, Austria. In 1999 he was awarded the first prize of the Christoph Delz Foundation of Basel, Switzerland. In 2000 he received a grant from the Schloss-Solitude Foundation of Stuttgart and in 2002, the artists' residence Denkmalschmiede Höfgen/Margarethenstiftung. For the academic year 2002-2003 he is a member of the Istituto Svizzero of Rome.