Menura Vocal Ensemble

The Menura Vocal Ensemble

The ‘Menura Vocal Ensemble’ is a youth female choir and has a repertoire ranging from classical polyphony to pop, jazz and ethnic music. The female choristers come from experiences of school choral workshops promoted and curated by the cultural association ‘Sesto in Canto’, both at the G. Cavalcanti middle school and at the ‘P. Calamandrei’ high school in the municipality of Sesto Fiorentino. The ‘Menura Vocal Ensemble’ is created in 2014 thanks to the asssociation’s support.

The choir has been supervised from its origin by Maestro Edoardo Materassi, who also takes care of the arrangements.

Edoardo Materassi, director

Edoardo Materassi is a guitarist, composer, arranger and choir conductor.

He trained in guitar with Maestros like Flavio Cucchi, Nuccio D’Angelo and Lucio Gammarota. He then devoted himself to composition, studying with Maestros like Kamran Khacheh, Claudio Boncompagni and Leonardo Abatangelo.

He conducts the choirs: Animae Voces, Mulieris Voces, Sesto In Canto, the youth choir Menura Vocal Ensemble, the children’s choir Na’ Ara Vocal Ensamble and others. Over the years he has been awarded prizes at various national and international competitions: first prize in the ‘Coro Più’ 2016 competition Animae Voces choir, first prize in the ‘Lucrezia One Voice’ competition Na ‘Ara Vocal Ensemble choir and others; he has also recorded numerous CDs.

He collaborated with musicians and actors such as Fay Napon, Francesco Buzzurro, Claudia Bombardella, Alessandro Lanzoni, Peter Tiboris (Carnegie Hall in New York), Nima Keshavarzi, Tony Backhouse, Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, Orchestra “La Filharmonie”.

Since 2017 he has been collaborating with the Australian association ‘Create Escape’ as a teacher in various choral workshops both in Italy and abroad.

With the Associazione Cori della Toscana, he organises the annual seminar “A Tutto Coro Sing Learn and Share” with teachers such as Basilio Astulez, Dominique Tille, Panda Van Proosdje, Carlo Pavese.

In 2015, the choir was included in the regional youth choir project, in collaboration with Fe.N.I.A.R.Co and Associazione Cori della Toscana, performing at EXPO 2015 Milan.

The ensemble has obtained, among other awards, the first prize at the international competition ‘Florence International Choir Festival Michelangelo’ 2017 and the first prize at the ‘Florence World Choir Festival’.

In 2018, the choir was invited to Berlin for a tour with the G.F. Haendel youth orchestra, who was then hosted by the choristers in Italy. In May 2019, the choir joined the project ‘Io nel pensier mi fingo’ curated by Sauro Albisani, participating in the event dedicated to Dino Campana and performing pieces composed by Andrea Portera. In 2022, the ensemble participated in the G.P. Voci d’Italia national competition.

LISTEN

DATE