Retrospective From The I Academy And Competition Of Orchestra Conducting

After a postponing due to the conditionings of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we finally succeeded on making the I Academy and Competition of Orchestra Conducting come to reality. It took place during October and we received candidates from many countries. Initially, we received 28 enrolments, among which many of the foreigners had to quit, either due to travelling restrictions as to the change of dates. Still, we received participants from Portugal, Switzerland, Poland, Italy and Spain.

The Academy was divided in two levels, namely the Basic Level  (16 – 20 October) and the Superior Level (20 – 24 October). During a week, the young conductors had the oportunity to work with the orchestra under the guidance of the conductors Nikolay Lalov and Roberto Gianola (Italy), who was able to replace in the last minute the initially invited Richard Rosenberg (EUA), also prevented from travelling because of the current circumstances.

At the last Saturday’s Final Concert and Competition, the 3 finalists conducted works from Mozart and Beethoven, having been evaluated by the jury which consisted of the two conductors and the members of the orchestra. The members gathered right after the final chords of the concert and the final results were announced to the audience, which almost filled the room capacity of Auditório Sra. Boa Nova. The prizes were atributed as following:

1st prize: Jacek Brzoznowski (Poland)
Received a prize of 1000€, the refund of the course fee and an invitation to conduct a concert during the 2021 season of OCCO.

2nd prize: Tiago Moreira da Silva (Portugal)
Received a prize of 600€ and the refund of the course fee.

3rd prize: Davide Guarneri (Italy)
Received the refund of the course fee .

Every participants expressed their satisfaction, praising the course organization and the work of the orchestra, and showing their interest in repeating the experience. And accordingly, Maestro Nikolay Lalov announced that this is a long term project and that the second edition of the Academy and Competition of Orchestra Conducting is already scheduled to July of 2021.

OCCO would like to thank to all the participants, to Maestro Roberto Gianola for his last-minute availability, as well as to the OCCO musicians for their excellent performance and professionalism shown during all these days of intense work.

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