Every year, on 7 December, the ‘San Zeno’ Choir opens its winter review by hosting the best choirs on the podium for an all-Christmas evening, which starts to warm up the upcoming festive season.
The event is open to all, free of charge, and will be held at the Parish Church of San Zeno di Montagna at 20:30.
Presentation of choirs
San Zeno Choir of San Zeno di Montagna (Verona)
We leave the word to Ludovico Bonafini, a member of the choir, who introduces it to us with love and passion: ‘I think that many now, when speaking of the San Zeno Choir, recall with their hearts the Alpine and folk songs that resound in the air of our village. In fact, this group has existed and lived in our area for 30 years, ever since, back in 1994, some fellow villagers decided to set out on this adventure.
Over the years, some members have left us, but new ones have been added, and, whether it is because we sing, or because we drink and eat together, the choir is still a beautiful reality, for meeting, laughing, but also for learning. To date we are about twenty people, led by maestro Gianni Peretti.
Choirs like ours are formed by volunteers who, to cheer up those who listen and to keep the songs of yesteryear alive, get together and, despite the difficulties, try to coordinate, to stretch
the ear to those who are near. Sometimes they get out of tune, then correct each other, sometimes they get lost, then exchange a glance. ‘Ghe vol testa’ (it takes head), says the teacher, and we all gleefully reply ‘ma testa non ghe n’è’ (but head there is none).
We are not perfect, but one thing is certain: we are still there, we are happy to be and sing together! And this is also demonstrated by our annual calendar: a Christmas festival, one for the Palms, ‘Poets in Court’ on the first Saturday in July, and others that are added during the year, because we organise them or because we are invited elsewhere. In short, amidst memories, events, people, notes and keys, we still sing, and I don’t know if we sing in perfect tones or with dulcet high notes, with confident basses or even tenors, but just the same, but certainly, this I say, with definitely loyal intentions.’
Sant’Ilario Choir of Rovereto (Trento)
The choir celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2019. It was born as a choir of folk and mountain tradition, but over time it approached other worlds such as dance and theatre.
It has developed a new way of doing choir work, linking its artistic and artistic journey to everyday life, to attention to social issues, to memory making, producing performances involving different arts and many young artists. The latest is ‘Le signore delle cime’, a show that tells the story of six women mountaineers from 1880 to the present day, accompanied by the choir’s songs.
In his artistic career, he met the singer Antonella Ruggiero, who intertwined her voice with those of the San’Ilario Choir and the Valle dei laghi Choir, in the project ‘Echi d’infinito, la montagna cantata’. In 2007, continuing this project, she presented the song ‘Canzone fra le guerre’ on the stage of the Sanremo Festival, in the evening of duets, accompanied by the two choirs with just their voices.
Since 2019 the artistic direction has been entrusted to maestro Federico Mozzi who, while continuing in the tradition of Trentino folk songs, seeks new artistic paths with the intention of keeping a memory alive by contextualising it in today’s everyday life.
Plinius Choir of Adria (Rovigo)
You have to know the land that preludes to the sea to understand the voices of the women’s choir named after the memory of Pliny the Elder, the great naturalist who also travelled the spaces of the Po Delta.
Voices of wind and swirling feelings, but also voices that reflect the brightness of the eyes and the restrained smile of the people, the harmony of time that never ended and the mystery of horizons.
Antonella Pavan began leading choral ensembles at a very young age, including children’s groups that grew up in the love of folk tales and everyday truths, always with courage before the future. These voices are not set in unnatural, sometimes obsessive sopraneggiare, but express themselves in the chord of naturalness in order to be able to communicate with engaging immediacy what they tell; and they do so in the utmost transparency of the harmonic fabric, favouring the compositions of Bepi De Marzi.
