Choir conductors and choir conducting students from public or private academies can participate in the course.

Vigil throughout the night
In all spiritual traditions, the rites that accompany the end of the day and the arrival of darkness play an important role. In the various Christian confessions, specific prayers and liturgies have been defined for the farewell of the day. Choral music has played a very important role and there are many masterpieces born from the texts used during these rites. Magnificat, Nunc dimittis, Salva nos are texts that in the different Christian confessions have stimulated the creativity of composers of all ages and the different geographical areas of Europe, and during the course it will be possible to study works by Josquin des Prez, Ešenvalds, Holst, Lasso, Mendelssohn , Palestrina, Part, da Rore, Stanford, de Victoria, as well as a selection of excerpts from Sergej Rachmaninov’s “Vespers” on the 150th anniversary of his birth.

The Course will be organized as follows:

• morning: practical lessons, theory, and exercises with the choir;
• afternoon: practical lessons with the choir.

At the end of the afternoon lessons, all students (active and auditors) will attend rehearsals of the following works:

Luciano Berio Cries of London
Orazio Vecchi Veglie di Siena, Bando dell’asino
Alessandro Striggio La caccia

The entrance examination will be exclusively by video audition. Candidates must submit both of the following:

• A video of a rehearsal on repertoire of their choice from 3-8 minutes in length
• A video of the execution of a piece for choir a cappella.

The lessons will cover the following repertoire:

• Josquin des Prez Nunc dimittis a 4 voci

• Cipriano de Rore Anchor che col partire

• Orlando di Lasso Nunc dimittis “anchor che col partire” a 5 voci, Nunc dimittis “il magnanimo Pietro” a 7 voci

• Tomas Luis de Victoria Magnificat a 8 voci

• Felix Mendelssohn dai Mottetti op. 69: n. 1 Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Frieden fahren, n. 3 Mein Herz erhebet Gott, den Herrn

• Charles Villiers Stanford Magnificat a 8 voci

• Sergej Rachmaninov Vespri (o Veglia per tutta la notte) op. 37, n. 1,3,5,6,7,11

• Gustav Holst Nunc dimittis a 8 voci

• Arvo Pärt Magnificat, Nunc dimittis

• Randall Stroope We Beheld Once Again the Stars

• Eric Whitacre Sleep

• Ēriks Ešenvalds Magnificat, Nunc dimittis