Unconventional Singers - AMAT

Lilia Bloom Award 2024

AMAT Lab  announces the second edition of the Lilia Bloom Award, an International Songwriting Competition aimed at all composers and arrangers who wish to engage in writing for a cappella voices, a characteristic of our Unconventional Singers.

It is from the friendship and collaboration of the group with the American patrons Lilia and Barry Bloom that the idea of the Award was born, in honor of Lilia. If last year it found space within the Femfestival, from this year the Lilia Bloom Award becomes an independent project and foresees the final phase next July in New York with the award concert performed by the Unconventional Singers.

Once again, after Les Bider, the competition has an exceptional Jury President, James Williams, general manager of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and from next September CEO of the Royal Academy of Music.

The Winning Pieces

The Jury of the Lilia Bloom Award 2024, composed of James Williams, Florin Estefan, and the Unconventional Singers of AMAT, announces the winning pieces.

The first prize for original composition goes to Cristina Valente for “Miracle”.

The first prize for arrangement goes to Stefano Cencetti with “All of Me”.

The finalist pieces by Paula Gallardo, Bragi Thor Valsson, and Rosita Piritore, present at the concert, were also highly appreciated.

About Unconventional Singers

The vocal group The Unconventional Singers, Amat’s international group, is the a cappella group that will perform the finalists’ songs of the competition.

The group was founded in 2020, at the pick of the COVID-19 pandemic after a successful performance in Florence.

Six friends and colleagues, opera singers and/or composers, have decided to officially become a professional and sustainable group: Costanza Renai, Francesca Lazzeroni, Keren Or Davidovitch, Claudio Giovani, Matteo Tavini, and Dielli Hoxha. 

Their music

They perform mainly a cappella repertoire and are versatile, amalgamated, covering all vocal ranges and styles, true artists in their hearts and souls.

Together with Concetta Anastasi, the group’s director, composer, and arranger, the singers are working on bringing opera singing outside of the classical point of view, opening up to versatile styles and periods. They interpret all kinds of repertoire with a contemporary key: they perform renaissance music, opera, musicals, operetta, pop, rock, and film soundtrack. 

Their successes

They collaborate with Italian musical institutions, such as the Festival del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and foreign ones. 

Thanks to the encounter with Lilia and Barry Bloom in 2021, the group began to perform successfully every year in New York at Lincoln Center and in other locations, continuing its mission of carrying Italian singing around the world.

In August 2022 the group won the Cover Award at the “Promote your music” Tour Contest organized by La Feltrinelli and Fanya di Croce.

The Unconventional Singers project is supported by Mrs Lilia Bloom and Mr Barry Bloom to whom we extend our heartfelt thanks.
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