CULTURE Contest to Celebrate Jewish Music to Take Place in Italy

By Rossella Tercatin

An international composition contest for works inspired by the Jewish tradition has been promoted by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI). The contest is open to participants from all European countries and Israel, and will be held every two years. The first edition is devoted to the fiftieth anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem: composers are asked to present creations that celebrate this.

“We asked ourselves what was happening in the contemporary Jewish music landscape. We thought that exploring this topic could be both an opportunity to keep the rich tradition of Jewish music alive, and a great tool to teach people about Judaism,” explains Maestro Riccardo Joshua Moretti, coordinator of the Committee for Culture of the UCEI Council, who promoted the idea together with a member of UCEI board David Meghnagi. Moretti, a composer himself, musician and conductor, will head the panel to review the material sent by participants.

“We think that this is a wonderful occasion to bring together young talents from all over Europe and Israel, and to promote their creations. Too often, Jewish music is associated just with klezmer. We, however, would like to highlight that there is much more than that to Jewish music. For this reason it is important to emphasize that the contest is open to all genres: contemporary classic music, liturgical music, even pop”.

Registration for the contest is due by November 5, 2017. The final phase of the contest will be held on December 11 and 12, 2017, at the Casa della Musica in Parma, an Italian city renowned for its musical tradition.

Competition announcement:
http://ucei.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/BANDO-EN-CONCORSO-DI-COMPOSIZIONE-MUSICALE.pdf

Registration form:
http://ucei.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Modulo-Iscrizione-EN-1.pdf

For further information: concorso.musica@ucei.it