On Saturday 26 November 2022, in the Sala Storica Dino Campana of the Biblioteca delle Oblate in Florence, in Via dell’Oriuolo n. 24 at 6 p.m., the final concert of the Femfestival by Amat, within the Festival dei Diritti of the Municipality of Florence, with the collaboration of Opera Laboratori and Sillabe, will be held. The three finalist scores of the International Composition Competition “Women Composers” will be performed: Glistening ray (kintsugi) by Akari Komura (Japan), Heterophonia by Bracha Bdil (Israel) and Mondspiel by Ingrid Stölzel (Germany) and the winner will be announced. Soprano Silvia Capra, Giuditta Isoldi on flute, Tazio Borgognoni on clarinet, Alberto Bologni on violin, Anne Lokken on viola and Fabia Simini on cello will perform the pieces.
The Femfestival was founded in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, sponsored by the City of Florence, with the support of the Tuscan Regional Council, with the aim of highlighting the female contribution in the field of musical composition and highlighting the presence of women as composers and conductors. The history of music is marked by a long list of female names, yet musicology sees an all-male character. AMAT, with its Femfestival, wants to be a point of breakthrough and change: once given a chance, women themselves will reveal their potential.
At the heart of the project is the international competition “Women Composers”, which gathers contributions from women composers from all over the world; it is accompanied by in-depth studies, meetings, debates and initiatives, including digital ones, to activate international networks that favour inclusion and multiculturalism. Hence this year’s theme: Dialogue, also due to the Femfestival’s collaboration with the Literary Competition of the inQuiete Festival, the Solferino Publishing House and Lettera Futura. The only tool to be exploited and amplified to share and coexist between different cultures, peoples and generations. A fundamental dialogue to break down the existing gender gap in the world of work, to disseminate musical culture from an open and multicultural perspective.
The Femfestival is an artistic event, but also much more: it is an opportunity to talk about women in art, young people, new technologies, different cultures and dissemination. It is an opportunity for both established artists and new talents, who will be able to have an additional space for dissemination thanks to this project.
Rebirth, artistic growth, dialogue and multiculturalism are in fact the keywords of the Femfestival. A multiculturality that we find not only in an excellent international jury, made up of Karola Obermueller (USA-Germany), Chia-Yu Hsu (USA-Taiwan), Barbara Rettagliati (Switzerland-Italy), Concetta Anastasi (Italy), Patrizia Montanaro (Italy); but above all in the cultural uniqueness and origin of the compositions taking part in the competition, touching on countries such as Iran, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Serbia, Argentina, Ukraine, the USA and many others… increasingly expanding the radius of musical dissemination and contamination. The project’s driving force are the three Amat members, Francesca Lazzeroni, Concetta Anastasi and Costanza Renai, together with Barbara Rettagliati. All made possible also thanks to an international audience that actively participates in the Femfestival online, with various web and social activities; including the launch of the online contest on Amat Hub, Amat’s free platform for the dissemination of music by women composers; the Composition Today column, or the Tea with Women Composers, an event (in Florence and live streaming) in which women journalists and composers talk about women’s roles, current issues and perspectives of women in music.