The Premio Bianca d'Aponte kicks off, the historic contest for young female singer-songwriters

The 22nd edition of the Premio Bianca d'Aponte is underway, the songwriting contest for female singer-songwriters whose finals are scheduled for Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October at the Teatro Cimarosa in Aversa. The finalists will take turns on stage alongside prestigious guests, starting with the godmother of the event Marina Rei and Peppe Barra, who will receive the city of Aversa's lifetime achievement award. Joining them will also be Nino Buonocore, Andrea Mirò, Angela Baraldi, Moonari, Rossana De Pace, Alfina Scorza and Micaela Tempesta, with Ferruccio Spinetti as artistic director. As always, the heart of the event is the songwriting competition for female artists, which this year will showcase a wide range of styles, from rock to folk, from singer-songwriter fare to electronica. The finalists are: Natalia Abbascià (Ruvo di Puglia – Bari); L'Aurora (Cosenza); Bambina (Corigliano Calabro – Cosenza); Rosita Brucoli (Bari); Fabula (Campobasso); Mabi (Casale Monferrato – Alessandria); Miriam Ricordi (Pescara); MVR (Tricase – Lecce); Sarai (Rome); Simona Valente (Bari). The program is packed, split across evening shows and various side events. Thursday 22 October will offer a kind of preview of the festival with a songwriting seminar held by Giuseppe Anastasi, Giuseppe Barbera and Angelo Franchi, running from 10am to 5pm at the Auditorium Bianca d'Aponte (on Via Nobel in Aversa). Friday 23 October kicks off in the morning, at noon, in the main hall of the "Domenico Cirillo" high school with a seminar on rights related to copyright held by Andrea Marco Ricci of NuovoImaie. At 8pm at the Teatro Cimarosa, the first evening will open with a performance by Micaela Tempesta, last year's winner. Afterwards, this edition's finalists will each perform a song from their repertoire.

As guests, it will then be the turn of Peppe Barra, Nino Buonocore, Moonari and Rossana De Pace, the latter as winner of the Music for Change contest. In addition, a group of students from the Domenico Cirillo classical and music high school in Aversa will perform a song by Bianca d'Aponte, the singer-songwriter who passed away prematurely and to whom the event is dedicated. On Saturday 24 October, the morning event will be held in the conference room of the "Building Hotel" (in the ASI industrial area of Carinaro). At 10am there will be the presentation of the book "Esercizi di metamorfosi. Le molte vite musicali di Miles Davis" by John Vignola (Rai Books), interviewed by Elisabetta Malantrucco. The introduction will be given by Fabrizio Perla (president of the Lennie Tristano Jazz Club in Aversa). At 11am comes the talk "L'artista, il mercato, la critica", with Cristiana Verardo (singer-songwriter), Roberto Trinci (Sony Music Publishing) and Michele Monina (music critic), hosted by Timisoara Pinto. At noon, "Le finaliste si presentano", with Mauro De Cillis (music critic). At 8pm at the Cimarosa comes the final evening, in which the contestants will perform their competition songs and the event's godmother, Marina Rei, will perform a song by Bianca d'Aponte along with others from her own repertoire. But there will also be room for Angela Baraldi, Andrea Mirò, Alfina Scorza and once again Micaela Tempesta. Also performing will be Koyel Basu, winner of the Premio Bianca d'Aponte International, selected among the contestants of the Premio Andrea Parodi, a twin festival to the d'Aponte, recently held in Cagliari. The evening will be hosted by Carlotta Scarlatto and Ottavio Nieddu. A house band, coordinated by Alessandro Crescenzo, will accompany some of the contestants and guests. Throughout the evenings, the compilation marking the award's 22nd edition will be available, which the audience can receive in exchange for a donation at the Emergency table, with all proceeds going to the organization.

The ten competing artists were selected from hundreds of applicants by a broad and prestigious guarantee committee, made up of producers, record label executives, managers, singers, songwriters, musicians and some of the most respected journalists in the Italian music world. Many committee members will also sit on the two juries, the general jury and the critics' jury, which will award the prizes during the final evenings in Aversa, including OndaRock editor and coordinator Giuliano Delli Paoli.

The Premio Bianca d'Aponte continues to establish itself as a privileged observatory on the new wave of Italian female singer-songwriters, offering finalists not only an important stage but also concrete artistic and professional opportunities. The overall winner will receive the Premio Bianca d'Aponte, including a 1,000-euro scholarship and an invitation to appear as a guest at next year's edition of the award. Whoever wins the "Fausto Mesolella" Critics' Award will receive an 800-euro scholarship and the chance to perform as a guest at the Premio Nilla Pizzi. The general jury will also award plaques for best lyrics (dedicated to Oscar Avogadro), best music and best performance. Numerous other prizes and bonuses are also planned, awarded by individual jury members or by organizations and associations close to the d'Aponte. Among those already confirmed are the "Premio 'Na stella" (named after a song by Mesolella) from Virus Studio, which includes recording a track with artistic production by Ferruccio Spinetti and Alessandro Guasconi; a slot at the "Femminile plurale" festival in Montella (Avellino); and one from Veronica Marchi's (winner of the award's first edition) all-female label "Maieutica Dischi" for the production and release of a track. Among the bonuses will also be a proposal for a possible artistic collaboration with Mariella Nava's label Suoni dall'Italy. But for some finalists, there will also be various opportunities to perform live at award-related events periodically organized in Italy and abroad. For instance in Prague, at the Italian Cultural Institute, or in Rome, at Officina Pasolini.

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