CHORAL CONDUCTING & PERFORMANCE PRACTICE MASTERCLASS
M° Maestro Filippo Maria Bressan
8–11 October 2026
CONCERT & MASTERCLASS
Choral Conducting and Performance Practice of Seventeenth-Century Italian Sacred Music
From 8 to 10 October 2026, the Accademia Musicale S. Cecilia of Bergamo presents an advanced Masterclass in Choral Conducting and Performance Practice, devoted to the Italian sacred repertoire of the seventeenth century. The course culminates in the public performance of:
Beata es Virgo Maria
A Marian Vespers: Devotion and Musical Splendour between Gregorian Chant and the Baroque Traditions of Bergamo and Venice
The final concert will take place on Sunday, 11 October 2026, in the magnificent Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo. Organised in collaboration with the Fondazione MIA and the Società del Quartetto di Bergamo, the project forms part of the celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Legrenzi (1626–1690), the Bergamasque composer born in Clusone whose music profoundly shaped the development of Venetian sacred music during the seventeenth century.
The programme reconstructs a festive Marian Vespers according to historical liturgical practice, combining Gregorian chant with concertato psalm settings. Gregorian antiphons are interwoven with the music of Giovanni Legrenzi, the central composer of the programme, together with masterpieces by Claudio Monteverdi and Giovanni Rovetta, both Maestri di Cappella of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.
Performed by a richly varied vocal and instrumental ensemble, the programme recreates the splendour, solemnity and expressive power of a seventeenth-century Marian liturgy, offering audiences an immersive journey into the sound world of Baroque Italy.
The Masterclass
The Masterclass will be directed by Maestro Filippo Maria Bressan and is intended for choral conductors and singers wishing to deepen their understanding of the performance practice of seventeenth-century Italian sacred music through an intensive programme of study and practical music-making.
Special attention will be devoted to the relationship between conducting technique, textual declamation and musical rhetoric, enabling participants to explore the stylistic principles that shaped vocal performance in the Italian Baroque while developing practical rehearsal and performance skills.
Participants will rehearse and perform alongside the professional singers of the Cappella Musicale of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and the period-instrument ensemble Magnifica Comunità, led by concertmaster Maestro Enrico Casazza. Working directly with professional musicians offers a unique opportunity to engage with the interpretative, liturgical and acoustic challenges of historically informed performance within the setting of the final concert.
The programme also includes specialist sessions on Gregorian chant, led by Fr. Nicola Bellinazzo, and on liturgy, presented by Fr. Gilberto Sessantini, providing participants with a broader understanding of the musical, historical and liturgical context of the repertoire.
INFORMATION
SCHEDULE & DAILY TIMETABLE
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
The Masterclass is open to choral conductors and orchestral conductors of all ages and nationalities.
Graduates and undergraduate students in vocal performance, as well as experienced choral singers with documented experience in the choral repertoire, are welcome to apply as active singers. Applicants are required to submit documentation of their musical experience as part of the application process.
A maximum of eight active conductors will be admitted to the Masterclass. Admission is based on the evaluation of the applicant’s artistic curriculum vitae by the Artistic Director of the Accademia Musicale S. Cecilia and the Masterclass tutor.
During the Masterclass, Maestro Filippo Maria Bressan will select six conductors to conduct portions of the programme during the final concert on Sunday, 11 October 2026.
The participation of singers in the final concert will be determined during the course, taking into account both their artistic preparation and the vocal balance required by the repertoire.
APPLICATION DEADLINE · FEES · REGISTRATION
Application deadline
Friday, 25 September 2026
Application fee
€50 (non-refundable)
Required only for active participants (conductors and singers).
Required Documents
Active participants
- PDF copy of the registration fee payment receipt.
- Conductors must also submit an artistic curriculum vitae.
Tuition Fees
Active Conductors €250
Reduced fee: €150 for students of the “Gaetano Donizetti” Conservatory of Bergamo.
Active Singers €100
Free of charge for students of the “Gaetano Donizetti” Conservatory of Bergamo and the Accademia Musicale S. Cecilia of Bergamo.
Auditors
€30 (1 day)
€70 (3 days)
Free of charge for students of the “Gaetano Donizetti” Conservatory of Bergamo and the Accademia Musicale S. Cecilia of Bergamo.
Tuition Fee Payment
The tuition fee must be paid no later than Saturday, 3 October 2026.
Admission Results
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process by e-mail no later than 30 September 2026.
ONLINE APPLIICATION
FACULTY
FILIPPO MARIA BRESSAN
Filippo Maria Bressan is one of those conductors who has deliberately chosen to remain outside the conventional image of the globe-trotting maestro. Yet he is also one of the few Italian conductors regularly invited to lead some of the country’s most distinguished musical institutions, including the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
A frequent guest of Italy’s leading concert societies and major festivals devoted to symphonic, early and contemporary music—including the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, the Venice Biennale, MITO SettembreMusica and the Sagra Musicale Umbra—he has worked alongside such eminent musicians as Claudio Abbado, Luciano Berio, Frans Brüggen, Myung-Whun Chung, Carlo Maria Giulini, Peter Maag, Lorin Maazel, Michael Nyman, Arvo Pärt, Georges Prêtre, Mstislav Rostropovich, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Jeffrey Tate.
Described by Carlo Maria Giulini as “a conductor of noble and elegant simplicity”, Bressan has pursued an independent artistic path, guided by his musical convictions rather than by career conventions. Eclectic, unconventional and famously indifferent to social media, he has consistently chosen projects that reflect his artistic interests.
Although Italy remains at the centre of his activity, he has conducted in numerous theatres and concert halls throughout Europe and South America. His repertoire ranges from the orchestral works of J. S. Bach to Luciano Berio’s Rendering, from Handel’s oratorios to operas by Mozart, Gluck, Rossini and Verdi. He has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatr Wielki in Poznań, Music Director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Savona and of Voxonus, and has appeared with virtually all of Italy’s leading orchestras as well as several international ensembles.
Throughout his career he has collaborated with distinguished soloists including Radek Baborák, Antonio Ballista, Pavel Berman, Ronald Brautigam, Rudolf Buchbinder, Michele Campanella, Bruno Canino, Alessandro Carbonare, Giuliano Carmignola, Gabriele Cassone, Carlo Colombara, Roberto Cominati, Alessandro Dell’Oste, Pietro De Maria, Bruno De Simone, Enrico Dindo, Martin Fröst, Andrea Lucchesini, Benedetto Lupo, Sara Mingardo, Domenico Nordio, Mikhail Pletnev and Giovanni Sollima, among many others. For many years, until its closure in 2009, he was also Artistic Director of the professional period-instrument ensemble Athestis Chorus & Academia de li Musici.
He studied orchestral conducting in Vienna with Karl Österreicher and choral conducting with Jürgen Jürgens, later serving as Jürgens’ assistant. He subsequently refined his musical training with, among others, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Ferdinand Leitner. A scholar of musicology and historical performance practice, deeply rooted in the Italian vocal tradition while possessing a profound knowledge of the German symphonic repertoire, Bressan has maintained a lifelong commitment to choral and symphonic-choral music.
From 2000 to 2002 he was the youngest-ever Chorus Master of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He has since conducted numerous internationally acclaimed choirs, including the World Youth Choir (2005 and 2016), the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the Estonian National Male Choir, the Italian Youth Choir, Coro FVG, Le Chœur National des Jeunes, and the choruses of several Italian opera houses in both operatic and symphonic productions.
He has served on the Scientific Committee of the Rossini Foundation in Pesaro and on the artistic boards of FENIARCO and ECA–Europa Cantat. His performances have been broadcast by RAI as well as by radio and television networks in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and many other countries. His discography includes recordings for Amadeus, Chandos Records, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI and Virgin.
M° Don NICOLA BELLINAZZO
Nicola Bellinazzo is a priest of the Diocese of Verona, a specialist in Gregorian chant, and a choral conductor. He pursued advanced musical studies in Gregorian chant through the International Courses in Cremona, the Pontifical Ambrosian Institute of Sacred Music (PIAMS) in Milan, and the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music (PIMS) in Rome, where he studied with Alberto Turco, one of the foremost authorities in the field.
He is the Director of the Schola Gregoriana Scriptoria (Este, Padua), with which he has performed extensively throughout Italy. From 2007 to 2018, he served as Director and Lecturer of the Schola Gregoriana Benedetto XVI in Bologna. He currently teaches Gregorian chant at the Diocesan Institute of Sacred Music of Padua and regularly leads specialised courses at the Abbey of San Vincenzo al Volturno and the Abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua.
Fr. Bellinazzo combines an active concert career with scholarly research. His discography includes numerous recordings for Ares, Naxos, Bongiovanni, Tactus, Arts, Chandos, Edizioni Paoline, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Symphonia, and Brilliant Classics. His recording of Claudio Merulo – Missa Apostolorum (Tactus) received a Grammy Award nomination in 2011.
He has performed throughout Italy, across Europe, and internationally in the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Russia.
At the Abbey of Solesmes (France), he collaborated with Alberto Turco and Gilberto Sessantini on the restoration of Gregorian melodies and the scholarly preparation of several major liturgical publications, including the Antiphonale Romanum (2016–2022), the Liber Gradualis, Pars festiva (2022), the Liber Gradualis, Pars feriale (2026), published by Armelin (Padua), and the forthcoming Liber Gradualis Simplex, iuxta editio typica tertia.
M° Don GILBERTO SESSANTINI
Priest of the Diocese of Bergamo, M° Don Gilberto Sessantini pursued classical and theological studies before earning a Licentiate in Oriental Ecclesiastical Sciences with a specialization in Liturgy from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. He also obtained a Diploma in Gregorian Chant and Sacred Music from the Pontifical Ambrosian Institute of Sacred Music in Milan, as well as a diploma in Organ and Organ Composition from the “Gaetano Donizetti” Conservatory in Bergamo.
Since 1993, he has served as Maestro di Cappella and Principal Organist of the Cathedral of Bergamo, where he has developed an extensive programme of liturgical music and concert activity. He is co-editor of the journals Celebriamo and Arte Organaria e Organistica, both published by Carrara, for whom he has also published numerous works for choir and organ, as well as a series of recordings devoted to organ improvisation on Gregorian themes.
From 1993 to 2017, he served as Director of the Diocesan Office for Sacred Music.
Since 2001, he has been Director of the Accademia Musicale S. Cecilia of Bergamo, the diocesan school of music.
Since 2013, he has served as Prior of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, where he has played a leading role in the renewal of the historic Cappella Musicale through an innovative liturgical and musical project.
He teaches Gregorian Chant, Medieval Monody, Liturgy, and Modality at the “Gaetano Donizetti” Conservatory of Bergamo.