Everything starts, in the second half of the 1950, from a band of young mountains enthusiasts, who sing for enjoyment, improvising, the songs of mountains made famous by the Sat Choir of Trent. Then it picks up: they study sheet music, get a uniform, a badge, a name (Coro Monte Cusna), and start singing in public. The first official outing is, on May 12, 1963, at the Bismantova Stone Hermitage.
That they sing well is witnessed by the first three places of the regional contest of Mossale, in the province of Parma (1963, 1964) and at the Festival of Toano, in the province of Reggio Emilia (1969). They have also highs and lows. The firsts ten years, for example, are rendered difficult by the alternate presence of three directors (Mario Tedeschi, Ernesto Calvi and Franco Trapani), caused by work’s reasons and by the inconstancy of some chorister….In 1974 the fairy tail seems to be at the end.
It is at this point that an exceptional chorister, Giancarlo Guidetti, in the choir since 1965, a doctor by profession, lacking academic musical training but with an extraordinary choral sensibility, takes over its leadership. This is the turning point, so much so that, after a few years of settling in, Guidetti leads the choir to 1st place in the National Competition in Genoa (1984): the singing identity that Guidetti is imprinting on the group already yields very high results. These qualities, and the total adherence to the choral style of the Sat Choir of Trent, even in years when other choral sensibilities prevailed, meant that the choir was invited to performances and reviews in the most prestigious theaters and the most renowned conservatories (Bolzano, Milan twice, Turin); and at national competitions it achieved resounding success: 2nd place at the national competition in Ivrea (TO) in 1999, 1st at the one in Brentonico (TN) in 2004; successes that, together with the first CD (2003) and the 40th anniversary concert (Valli Theater in Reggio E.), represent the pinnacle of the Guidetti period. The fairy tale, in short, continues.
In October 2008 the choir suddenly lost its maestro. The baton is taken by Alessandro Marzani, a good connoisseur of music and a lover of this genre of choral singing, who has already been collaborating with Guidetti for years in conducting rehearsals and keeping the quality of performances high. With Marzani, Guidetti’s legacy not only does not dissipate, but is further enhanced along three lines of commitment: continuity precisely with the style of the late maestro; a more secure teaching method, made up of consistent care of voices and departments; and precision of intonation, understood not only as strict adherence to the scores, but also as consonance of voices, harmony and compactness of departments, harmonic structure and smoothness of the whole. The Choir clearly benefits from this, as evidenced by, among others, the prestigious performances in the conservatories of Bolzano (November 2008), Milan (November 2009) and Turin (December 2012) and in Savona Cathedral (February 2016), the 50th anniversary concert (Teatro Valli 2013) and the 2nd place in the 1st National Competition “Luigi Pigarelli” in Arco di Trento (2015); and as evidenced by the second CD, released in autumn 2015. Then, on the occasion of the centenary of World War I, the Choir staged and performed in several replicas (including for students), a concert-recital entitled “Voci e immagini delle Grande Guerra” always with great success.
In addition to all this, in recent years, a few new choristers have joined the choir and the promotion of folk choral singing especially among young people, with the aim of ensuring that the choir has the necessary turnover. The new, particularly welcoming venue is also, as of January 1, 2016, a further guarantee of continuity.
And so, even without unlikely prince charming or impossible magic wands, after more than 50 years since its inception … the fairy tale goes on.
(2016, from coromontecusna.it)
