After the success of the conductors’ programme at the last festival in Utrecht, Europa Cantat also in Torino is offering a full conductors’ curriculum for the whole length of the festival, parallel to the singers’ ateliers. The detailed programme for conductors will be published here, on the festival website, in November 2011.
Are you curious? Ask, and let us answer your questions!

Who is the conductors’ programme offered to?

To conductors with open minds, open ears and open windows to the world!
• Experienced conductors who want to keep themselves updated.
• Young conductors who feel that there are still many things to learn.
• Future conductors who want to get inspired to start this exciting path.
In two words: every conductor, which means that activities will address different needs at different levels.

Is it possible to register my choir in an atelier and follow the conductors’ programme, or shall I come alone?

It is possible! The conductors’ programme runs, while your singers are in their atelier(s). But you can also come on your own, as a ‘single conductor’.

Do I have to register for the whole programme? Shall I decide in advance which activities to follow?

You are free to register for how many days you wish, and every morning you can choose among different parallel activities. If you just want to get a taste of the festival for one or more days, you can buy one-day tickets and even register on the morning of your participation.

What’s the programme like?

The two main activities are seminars and the Study Tour. Some seminars take place at the same time as the Study Tour and each day you can decide what to choose. Seminars include lectures, reading sessions and demonstrations by colleagues from all over the world. The main subjects of the seminars are gathered under three themes.
Conductors and (every age) singers. We focus on the relationship between the conductor and his instruments: the singers’ voices, warming up, keeping the voice healthy and knowing how to deal with different vocal techniques in relation to genres, styles and the age of the singers. We also talk about music education, comparing different national experiences, presenting interesting repertoire for children and new ways and approaches.
Conductors and composers. This is a key relationship for the development of choral music. The festival also runs a composers programme and aims at letting composers, conductors and choirs meet, rehearse new music with a choir in residence, overcome fear of not being able to sing contemporary music, to conduct contemporary music and to compose suitable contemporary music for amateur choirs. We’ll all be braver at the end of the week!
Conductors and their tools. Conductors also want to conduct, we know! Therefore we’ll offer practical seminars of conducting techniques connected with specific issues and musical genres. And we’ll look at the relationship between new technologies and choral music and the possibilities for our choirs to keep up with today’s world and its languages and communication channels.
The Study Tour is the best way to experience your colleagues and their working methods. There are over 50 of them working at the same time! Every morning, especially during the first half of the festival, we will visit some ateliers and evaluate what we have seen.

Who are the teachers of the conductors’ programme?

You, of course! One great possibility of Europa Cantat festivals is to meet colleagues from all over the world and learn a lot from each other, share experiences, repertoires, projects and get to know each other’s choirs. But if you meant “who is going to lead all the seminars and the Study Tour?”, here is the answer: there will be two conductors coordinating the whole programme and leading the Study Tour, and many teachers and clinicians. There will be experienced and well known conductors leading an atelier at the festival, having their choir participating or simply staying in Torino as guest of the festival. Altogether they will be a fantastic and entirely unique team of musicians, giving you inspiration, input, motivation, tools, ideas and a great desire to go back home and experiment new frontiers with your choir.