“2 agosto” Competition: music by young composers in Piazza Maggiore, so as not to forget

“2 agosto” Competition: music by young composers in Piazza Maggiore, so as not to forget

This year once again Teatro Comunale di Bologna represented the city with the final concert of the “2 agosto” International Composition Competition, now in its 32nd edition, founded to commemorate the victims of the bombing at Bologna station on 2 August 1980. The evening took place on Sunday 2 August in Piazza Maggiore and was broadcast live on Rai 5 and Rai Radio3.

Marco Angius, a leading conductor of contemporary repertoire, took the podium of the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Comunale di Bologna; the chorus was prepared by Claudio Marino Moretti, the Theatre’s chorus master since July 2026. The evening was presented by Nicola Campogrande, chair of the jury.

The concert opened with the three prize-winning compositions, all world premieres, beginning with the third-placed work: (Disvelo) for chorus and orchestra by Maichol Bondanelli, a piece of archaic cast suspended between tension and stillness. It was followed by Confractione confringetur terra for baritone, chorus and orchestra by the Spanish composer Teo Montero Rey, on a passage from the «Apocalypse of Isaiah» in the Latin of the Vulgate: a journey from destruction to hope, in which the baritone Giulio Iermini took on a prophetic role in dialogue with the chorus. First prize went to Exclamación de Santa Teresa for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Jorge Coll Navarro, setting a prayer by the mystic of Ávila between the colours of the Spanish tradition and dramatic expression; the soloist was the soprano Anna Cimmarrusti.

After the prize-giving, the second half was devoted to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B flat major Op. 60, which Schumann described as «a slender Greek maiden between two Nordic giants».

Organised since 2019 by Teatro Comunale di Bologna and promoted by the Association of the Families of the Victims of the Bologna Station Bombing of 2 August 1980 and by the Committee of Solidarity with the Victims of the Massacres, the Competition goes on answering violence with the creativity of music.