Competition: “Official contest, through which rewards, acknowledgments and work-tasks are assigned”. This is the definition of the word “competition” found in one of the most authoritative vocabularies of the Italian language: the Garzanti Dictionary.

Hoping to have survived the economical world crises, we are happy to present out competition anew and in an improved version. Being the 5th edition, we have modified important and crucial aspects, to give candidates a chance to find a superior level of professionalism which will guarantee them to receive a valid and fair valutation of their activity. This year we have added preliminaries and semi-finals in 3 cities of the USA and Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, cancels any borders or boundaries. The competition’s mission is to change countries into people through the sound of music.

But in what way can it be presented in an environment which today is misled in great part by the incompetence of artistic directorships, often bestowed without comprehensible and clear logic, but based purely on managerial, lobbystic or political choices which promise “preferential” access to financial resources internationally? And therefore what function can a competition have that bases its decisions and evaluations exclusively on the performance of the candidate during the competition phases, disregarding any prejudice?

The answer is to be found in the union of craftsmen and musicians who through their skill and passion for their work have found a strategy to reintroduce forgotten, but important values, which are based on know-how and supported by the concept of the “bottega d’arte” whose foundations are the constant devotion of the craftsmen and musicians to their difficult work, serious study and a never-ending search to perfect one’s working skills and talent!

This was the music world until about 40 years ago, and all of the artists who were part of it exercised their gift of creativity with balance and mutual respect, a respect that was stronger and more powerful by far than any possible temptation of corruption!

Giuseppe Patané, Piero Cappuccilli, Ottorino Respighi, three artists who believed in such values and exercised their “profession”, because making music is a PROFESSION, fighting terrible obstacles in a decadent environment. Alas, we in our “good times” have become all too easily used to the decline of these values. World politics, clandestine organisations and sly manoeuvres, which hardly ever respect fairplay, claim to represent these values, even pronouncing them as their credo, but in reality debase the contents of these values, themselves becoming advocates of an ill-concealed watering-down of culture and music. It is much in vogue, unfortunately also in Italy, to affirm that the future lies in meritocracy. ......(?), but young and meritorious artists are faced with a fast-spreading cultural and unscrupulous immorality, making it more and more difficult for them to be able to emerge in an ever more crowded field. The “Cappuccilli – Patané – Respighi” competition, wants, claims and asks to be the “restorer” of the true modus operandi to execute the art of music, based on complete knowledge of the technical, expressive and interpretive aspects of the international traditional school, which is gradually being overrun by disgraceful attempts made by “wanna-be artists”, who are in charge of a large percentage of cultural entities worldwide, offering the audience “ERRONEOUS” musical performances – and with them “pulling the wool” over the audience’s eyes. The success of the two previous editions of the competition and the reliability, commitment and trustworthiness with which it was supervised, have guaranteed the participants truthful and impartial judgment and the pledge to keep the promises which the competition itself heralds. A special word of thanks goes to my friends, both musicians and those working in the field, who from the very first edition have participated with enthusiasm, contributing their credo and granting access to the institutions they run with the utmost impartiality and professionalism. A special greeting with the most heartfelt thanks goes to the craftsmen who from the very first moment have supported this project with total conviction and, last but not least, to the Pygmalions Enzo Ciccarelli and Fabio Menicacci, Angiolo Caletti, Flavio Arlenghi who not only had this noble intuition and believed in the idea, but through it have found a promising way of contributing actively to the project for the school of craftsmen in Ethiopia, managed and sponsored by the Confartigianato ANAP Italy.

The Chairman of the Jury,
M° Lorenzo Castriota Skanderbeg, Conductor