Rebirth, artistic growth, dialogue and multiculturalism: this is the Femfestival, conceived by the Amat team composed of Concetta Anastasi, Francesca Lazzeroni and Barbara Rettagliati. A musical festival open to the world, addressed to all female composers, an opportunity to start again and read the history of music from the female perspective, which has always been present but very often remained hidden. Sponsored by the Municipalities of Florence and Scandicci and by the Honorary Consulate of Burkina Faso in Florence, the festival is an opportunity to talk about music, accessibility and cultural integration, to network female artists, creating in the Metropolitan City of Florence a real laboratory of contemporary art music.
A festival full of initiatives, with at its centre the “Women composers” competition, due to expire on 20 July, ennobled by an excellent international and multicultural jury. Ekaterina Kozhevnikova, the jury president, is a Russian artist with a long career, performed and appreciated at home and abroad. The other jurors are Concetta Anastasi, Caterina Calderoni (Italy), Linda Dusman (USA), Katharina Nohl (Germany), Barbara Rettagliati (Italy-Switzerland), Adeline Wong (Malaysia). The competition offers cash prizes to the first prize-winners and above all the performance of the selected scores, because it is through performance that sheets of paper, often locked away in a drawer, come to life. The objectives, therefore, are to disseminate the work of women composers and to open up cultural frontiers to the whole world, with particular attention to contributions to the contamination of genres, styles and cultures. This is the aim of another activity of the festival, the Cocolab, a laboratory of collaboration and contamination. A composer from Burkina Faso will be hosted in Florence thanks to a special scholarship and will attend Amat’s creative workshop where, together with other female composers, she will participate in a shared experience to create a work to be performed during the festival. The initiative is also possible thanks to the partnership with the Association “Amici di Pietro Annigoni per la solidarietà fra i popoli Onlus” and also envisages the collaboration of the “Luigi Cherubini” Conservatory of Florence.
From 20 July, applications will also be collected to take part in the festival’s activities in the autumn. Other appointments, online, live and on the radio, will give the opportunity to listen to the music and experience of the jurors of the competition and other famous composers, thanks also to the collaboration of Rete Toscana Classica and Anna Menichetti, presenter of Radio Rai 3.
All the details of the festival and the competition, including the published announcement, can be consulted and downloaded in English and Italian on the Amat website, www.amatlab.com. Updates and additional content are available on AMAT’s social channels.