AWARDS
US Army Band “Pershing’s Own” Guest Conductor
Dr. DiMeglio spent a week at Ft Myer in the nation’s capital with the US Army Band “Pershing’s Own” as a guest conductor and conducting workshop participant. Throughout the week, she rehearsed and performed with the band, collaborated with other conductors and army band musicians, and gained access to manuscripts and other exclusive documents at the Library of Congress Music Division. The US Army Band musicians, officers, and workshop organizers were welcoming and made it a very positive week of music-making.
Frederick Fennell Prize
International Wind Orchestra Conducting Competition
Tina DiMeglio, First Prize Winner
Dr. Tina DiMeglio conducting the Gustav Holst Wind Symphony
Garibaldi Theater in Modica, Sicily, Italy.
The International Wind Orchestra Conducting Competition entitled the “Frederick Fennell Prize” was held in Modica, a province of Ragusa in Sicily, Italy, from November 19-21 at the P. Floridia Hall and the Garibaldi Theater.
21 conductors, all of the highest level, from various parts of the world including USA, Canada, Japan, Holland, Portugal, Belgium, ad of course Italy ventured into conducting contests in order to win the prestigious “Frederick Fennell” award, in homage to the great conductor and pedagogue.
The contest took place over three days and in three phases: eliminatory, semifinal, and final. The participants directed instrumental ensembles comprised of local professionals and music students. In the first round, participants conducted one movement of Janacek’s sextet entitle “Mladi (Youth),” chosen at random. Eight semifinalists moved on to the second round in which they rehearsed and conducted the Triskelion Brass Band on two pieces.
Three finalists were selected to compete in the final round, which consisted of a 45-minute rehearsal and a concert performance with the spectacular Gustav Holst Wind Symphony. Each conductor randomly selected a piece to be conducted in the concert, which was evaluated by the jury and open to a public audience. The panel consisted of Lorenzo Della Fonte, Fergus O’Carroll, Vincenzo Paratore, and Mirko Caruso, who evaluated the conductors on technique, interpretation, and verbal and non-verbal communication.
After the final performance, the jury awarded top prize to Dr. Tina DiMeglio, Assistant Director of Bands at USF. The jury shared with the audience that they were proud to present the award to an Italian-American, sharing that DiMeglio, whose grandparents were born in the area of Naples, Italy) represents the many people from Southern Italy who immigrated to the United States during the twentieth-century. They also noted that women are underrepresented in the wind band community, especially as conductors, and that DiMeglio’s victory is especially significant in this sense.
In conclusion, we report what Mirko Caruso, the Artistic Director of the Competition, told MondoBande.it: “An important and prestigious initiative that will certainly project the City of Modica and the Liceo Musicale” G. Verga ”in the panorama of international cultural initiatives. The great enthusiasm expressed since the preliminary round by the participating directors struck me deeply, it was like rekindling the hope that the pandemic situation still continues to scratch; the large presence of foreign participants also projected these sensations on a global scale. There are many indelible moments, from the anxious extractions before the direction tests to the final evening, and many moments of comparison and growth: we must not forget, in fact, that the real goal of these events is comparison and not just competition. See the directors gather at the bar during the breaks and all at the same table in the pizzeria at the end of the final evening to laugh, joke; seeing foreigners trying to speak Italian and Italians trying to speak English or Spanish filled me with pride. My goal, as creator of the competition, was precisely this: the comparison, even international, which can only lead us all to individual and group growth; a growth, ours, which is projected on the new generations and which contributes to making the world of beautiful wind music and conducting immortal.