‘Guido Cantelli’ International Conducting Award Winners Announced

By Francisco Salazar

On Oct. 6, Min Gyu Song was named the winner of the prestigious “Guido Cantelli” International Conducting Award.

The competition was organized by the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Coccia of Novara, in collaboration with the City of Novara, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, and the Università del Piemonte Orientale, with the support of the MIC (Ministry of Culture), and under the patronage of the Piedmont Region, the Local Tourist Promotion Agency of the Province of Novara, and with the support of the Fondazione Banca Popolare di Novara.

The South Korean conductor will receive a corresponding check for €12,000 alongside the first prize. Song was also the recipient of two other important awards given on the same occasion: the new Management Agencies Jury Award, presented by Mark Hildrew (Askonas Holt) and Nicholas Mathias (IMG Artists), and the Orchestra Award, handed to him by the Orchestra Sinfonia di Milano’s Concertmaster Luca Santaniello.

The Second Prize (€8,000) was awarded to Giovanni Conti, and the Third Prize (€5,000) went to Aram Khacheh. Meanwhile, the Critics’ Jury Prize (€2,000) was awarded to Aram Khacheh for “his superior technical control, his ability to make the orchestra sing, and his skill in managing both the ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ dimensions of phrasing, from individual lines to grand musical periods.”

The jury, presided over by Günter Neuhold, also included conductors Riccardo Frizza (Artistic Advisor for the Cantelli Prize) and Corrado Rovaris, along with Numa Bischof Ullmann (Superintendent of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the “Le Piano Symphonique” Festival in Lucerne with Martha Argerich), Mauro Bucarelli (Artistic Secretary of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia), Didier de Cottignies(Artistic Director of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra) and Cristina Rocca (Vice President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association for artistic administration).

In a statement by Corinne Baroni, Director of the Prize and the Teatro Coccia said, “The level of the Cantelli Award increases year after year and in this third edition since its revival in 2020, 63 years after its foundation, it powerfully reaffirms its commitment to its founding principles: to serve the talent of the new generation of international conductors and to fulfill its promise of bringing Novara to the world, thanks to the name and fame of Cantelli.”

Song joins past winners, including Riccardo Muti, Eliahu Inbal, Ádám Fischer, Hubert Soudant, and Donato Renzetti.

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