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Home > History > Our History

The History of the Polyphonic Group "Claudio Monteverdi"

The “Claudio Monteverdi” Choir was founded in 1976 by the Italian director and composer Orlando Dipiazza and directed by him until 1996, as a union that made the Choir a compositional instrument and at the same time popularizer of a new expressive style. He participated in the most important international choral events in Italy, achieving prestigious results at the Arezzo and Ravenna competitions in 1978 and 1979 and in Gorizia in 1982. In recent decades the activity has been predominantly concert-based with the creation of various musical projects, both with a cappella voices and with instrumental accompaniment.

Over the course of 48 years of uninterrupted activity, he has performed almost a thousand concerts in Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Finland, France, Spain, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Canada, United States, Malta.

His vast classical repertoire, sacred and profane, ranges from the sixteenth century to the baroque, to romanticism, to modern and contemporary authors. The Monteverdi Choir has, in its repertoire and has performed, the complete for male choir by Francis Poulenc, and regularly offers the "Passione of Christo secondo Giovanni” by the Renaissance composer Francesco Corteccia (there have been more than 150 performances). Popular singing is proposed in authorial elaborations and compositions in different languages ​​and dialects. For the valorization and diffusion of popular singing and the Friulian language and culture, it has published 8 volumes of music and songs composed and elaborated by the master Orlando Dipiazza.

From 1976 to today he has published 7 compact discs:

• “PASSION OF CHRISTO SECOND JOHN” by Francesco Corteccia, for choir and narrator;
• “REQUIEM R488” by Franz Liszt, for soloists, choir, brass, timpani and organ;
• “MISERERE” by Giocahino Rossini (solos, choir and small orchestra)
• “LAUDIS ET PSALMI” by P. B. Bellinzani and G. A. Rigatti (for double choir with 8 voices, violins, trombones and bass c.)
• “THE FRIULI SACRO BETWEEN '800 AND '900” - music by J.Tomadini, A.Perosa and O.Dipiazza (for soloists, choir, strings, harp)
• “INCANTO” – examples of poetry and authorial music between tradition and modernity
• “LAUDATE DOMINUM” - five centuries of sacred song

Photos and reviews of the “Monteverdi” Choir were published in the Mononographic Encyclopedia of Friuli -Venezia Giulia.

Since 2001 the choir has been the creator and organizer of the "Cori D'Europa" festival, which hosts two international-level choirs every year for four concerts in the main locations of Friuli - Venezia Giulia, encouraging its cultural and tourist promotion and laying the basis for exchanges with other European cultures.

Since 2003 the “Monteverdi” Choir has been recognized as a “cultural organization of regional interest”.
In 2016 the choir received the “Croce di Malta” award from the Municipality of Ruda for 40 years of cultural activity.

Since 2023, the conduction has been entrusted to Barbara Di Bert.

In 2024 the choir obtained the bronze medal (gold medal not awarded) at the Béla Bartók International Choir Competition in Debrecen (Hungary) in the sacred music category.