Live the music,
experience the competition.

Free accomodation
for all participants

All participants in the Città di Cantù competition will be hosted free of charge by volunteer host families. These families, who have enthusiastically taken part in hosting activities for years, are ready to welcome the contestants with warmth and generosity, making their stay a unique and enriching experience.

An historical success

During the editions of the Cantù competition we had 800+ competitors from all over the world.
400+ pianists had the opportunity to play with a large orchestra.
150+ were the winners (Prizes and Scolarships)

COMPETITORS

WINNERS

EDITIONS

Private consultation with the jury

The Jury President and all jurors will be available for private consultations with contestants at the end of each round. This meeting is a valuable opportunity to discuss the details of your performance, receive advice on how to improve weaker areas, and gain recognition for your strengths.

Participants will have pianos available for daily practice

Each contestant will have access to a piano every day for practice. In some cases, the piano will be available directly at the host families’ homes. Alternatively, contestants can book the use of a piano at the school. This will allow all participants to prepare thoroughly for the competition.

Live Orchestra

STATE PHILARMONIC ORCHESTRA OF ROMANIA

The International Piano and Orchestra Competition “Città di Cantù” continues to evolve, not only in the phases that concern the competition, but also in the collaboration with the orchestra.
On the stage of the Fumagalli Theater, the venue of the competition, the arrival of an orchestral group with a new name is announced, which collects the legacy of 30 years of collaboration with the orchestra professors of Bacau, envisaging new paths for the future.
Under the name ”State Philharmonic Orchestra of Romania”, more than ever trained and directed by the expert and wise baton of Maestro Ovidiu Balan, the first parts of the main Romanian orchestras will line up, ready to play excellently the thirty-year repertoire of the Cantù competition, together with a new aggregation of talented orchestral musicians coming from all over Romania.

OVIDIU BALAN - CONDUCTOR

Maestro Ovidiu Balan, honorary superintendent and director of the “Mihail Jora” philharmonic orchestra of Bacau, comes from a school of famous and acclaimed conductors, who have had universally recognized fame.
He studied in Bucharest with Maestro Iosiaf Conta and participated in courses in Holland, France, USA held by Maestros Jean Fournet, Marius Constant, Fernand Quatrocchi, Eugene Ormandi, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Georg Solti, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel.
He has conducted important orchestras in the USA, Cuba, Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Russia, Portugal, Poland, Hungary and received the A.T.M. Prize. for the interpretation of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Art Critics Award for the interpretation of contemporary music and the Journalists Award of the City of Bacau.
For his artistic activity he received the “Cultural Merit” (1982), the title of “Master of the Arts” (1994) of the Republic of Moldova, the honorary citizenship of the city and province of Bacau, the “Golden Point” of the City of Varallo – Italy and honorary citizenship of the City of Cantù – Italy.