Participating Choirs 2023

Florida College Chorus (USA)

Conductor Jon Bassett

Jon Bassett Director of Choral Activities

Since 2001, Jon Bassett has been the director of choral activities at Florida College, a liberal arts college in Tampa, FL. He has conducted the chorus on tour each year in many major cities across the country and in college festivals and competitions in the Unites States and Europe. Jon teaches voice and strings at Florida College, and is the director of the string ensemble. He received his Bachelor and Master of Music Education degrees from Arkansas State University and his Ph.D. from the University of South Florida where his focus was vocal performance and violin pedagogy. Dr. Bassett also maintains and operates Bassett Music Studio which has produced several young musicians who have been awarded major scholarships and received regional and national recognition in competition. Jon resides in Temple Terrace with his wife Jenny and their five children, Drew, Aden, Anna, Luke, and Beatrice.

Since 1946, the chorus has been the voice of Florida College, a small liberal arts college in Temple Terrace, Florida. The Chorus is made up of approximately 65 auditioned students from across the United States. Each year the chorus students tour the country for 10 days over their spring break and have performed in more than 20 states. Additionally, the chorus engages in collaborative performances with other colleges and universities as well as being a recurring participant in the Christian College Chorus Festival. In June of last year, Dr. Bassett conducted the Florida College Chorus in multiple concerts in Salzburg and Linz, Austria, and in competition at the 6th International Anton Bruckner Choral Competition and Festival in Linz. The chorus won first place in advanced mixed choirs and third place in sacred choirs and was a finalist in the grand prize competition. In 2018, the chorus performed a solo concert in Carnegie Hall to open for John Rutter conducting three of his major works for chorus and orchestra.


Menura Vocal Ensemble (Florence, Italy)

Conductor Edoardo Materassi

The Menura Vocal Ensemble is a youth choir of female voices only and has a repertoire that ranges from classical polyphony to pop, Jazz up to the ethnic genre. in the Liceo P. Calamandrei in the municipality of Sesto Fiorentino. The choir has been followed since its origin by Maestro Edoardo Materassi who also takes care of the arrangements. Most relevant events attended by the choir: Sixth edition of the Finnish film review “Una Finestra Sul Nord”, Odeon Cinema Florence. Inauguration of the exhibition “A Finn at the Medici court” Palazzo Madici Riccardi Florence, “In the network of words” Teatro Niccolini chamber orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino performing in the world premiere of original music by the composer Andrea Portera. In April 2018 the choir was invited to Berlin for a tour with the youth orchestra G.F. Haendel gaining consensus from both the public and critics The choir received the following awards: First prize in the “Michelangelo International Music Festival” 2017. First prize at the “Florence world choir festival” 2018. First prize in the “Coro Più” competition Grand Prix Choral of Tuscany 2018. Third prize National AERCO Video Choral Competition “2020


Patronages

        Logo Comune di Firenze

Florence

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