FESTIVAL AL SOLE DELLA SARDEGNA
We are grateful and honoured to have received so many positive and encouraging reviews from the choirs participating in the Festival.
Thank you very much for sharing your passion and talent with us.
Sangstream Scots Folk Choir (SCOTLAND) – 2023
Settembre 2023
Dear Giacomo and Barbara,
Thank you so much for an absolutely wonderful Festival. All of our singers and spouses enjoyed it enormously.
I began to realise just how much hard work by you went into creating the Festival. Organising the choirs, both local and international, arranging money, accommodation, meals, venues for performances and many other things. You should be very proud that everything went so well. I hope you’ve been having a well earned rest.
The comments in this email are on behalf of all of us who travelled to Sant’Antioca. As Giacomo rightly commented, we’re a bit unusual as a choir. The choir is run by it’s members. Everyone can voice an opinion, and often do so!
What did we especially appreciate?
– It was lovely of Giacomo to come to greet us when we arrived, even though it was so very late.
– The calm and efficient organisation and communication from Barbara during the months of preparation was hugely helpful.
– We enjoyed having Oriano to look after us for the 4 days. He is very personable, a good translator and was good at accommodating our requests.
– The Hotel Muma was a lovely place to stay, so thank you for arranging for our request to work out. Their breakfast and bar service was appreciated!
– The venues for performance were stunning. A real privilege to sing there. The churches had a tremendous acoustic. It was interesting that the cave acoustic was not crisp but it was visually stunning.
– It was was very hospitable to arrange for food and drinks after the performances, although we hadn’t got much energy left. It was the best opportunity to mingle with members from other choirs.
– Baddys restaurant got the approval from all who went there as the most organised to meet everyone’s needs.
There are a few things to consider for future festivals – and I hope you will continue to years to come.
– It would be good hear about your values and purpose in creating this Festival. This may, of course, have been said very eloquently in in Italian in the speeches! Having this voiced and/or translated and/or stated would be great. In bringing choirs together across Europe and beyond and with local choirs, I hope and assume that you are wanting to encourage and support singing and good relations between choirs and, perhaps, to support the local area. It would be good to be able to understand also the information about other choirs. I think this would build a stronger bond between us all.
– We had hoped for a little more integration amongst the choirs. I wonder if there are ways to encourage mingling. For instance, could there be an opportunity one afternoon to share songs between choirs?
– We were asked to reduce the length of our planned performance on every occasion. Of course, we complied with this request but did wonder if other choirs also did so.
– Food for vegetarians and those with allergies got difficult at times. People with a fish/shell fish allergy will not want to eat fish. This confused some restaurants. We were always the last choir to be fed and either the restaurant did not know of this need or had run out of sufficient non meat/fish options. Since you ask about allergies I can only suggest asking restaurants to provide the meals for vegetarians plus ones for those avoiding fish, so they have the right numbers. I know this is very hard when catering for such a big group.
– It was excellent you were able to arrange ground floor rooms at Hotel Muma for people with walking difficulty but getting to performance venues or restaurants involved more walking and steps than we expected. This needs to be thought through a little more or warn travellers before they commit to travelling. We’re grateful for the car lift back to the coach for a few people on one occasion. Is that something that could be planned for?
We have been compiling our photos and videos from Sardinia. This is what has prompted me, now, to write to you. What lovely memories.
Thank you again for such a wonderful Festival.
Very best wishes,
Nancy Davis
Sangstream Scots Folk Choir (GBR)
Cantorums Manskor – Sweden – 2022
Dear Barbara,
Once again – thank you for the well-organized Festival and your personal concern for us during the stay!
Thanks a lot and hugs in return/Ingemar
Limerick Choral Union – Ireland – 2022
Dearest Barbara and Giuliano and Alberto !
Well, all of us have now arrived safely back home yesterday evening and I am back at work this morning.
My friends…… what can I say ? ALL of us had the most wonderful time in Sardinia , the beautiful places, the friendly people , the lovely music !!! It was all fantastic !!! We so much appreciated all your hard work to make this magical time happen for us and in particular for the work that you did to help us enjoy our few days when the festival was over and you were busy trying to get home yourselves. Words really cannot express how much it mean to all of us to be able to be together and sing together again after all the sad things that have happened with Covid and all what is still happening with the Ukraine war. We all had a new appreciation of how lucky we are to be able to travel and enjoy new experiences and SING !!
I hope you all got back home safely and are able to have some rest after all your hard work. We do hope that you can accept our invitation to visit us in Limerick for our concert on Dec 3rd ?? We would be delighted to repay your hospitality in some small way in our home town, we will be in touch again to organise your visit !
ALL our love
Denise
Songworks – Edinburgh – 2022
Hi Barbara
Apologies – this is a very belated thank you for all your work in organising another great choir festival. We all thoroughly enjoyed it – despite the heat! – and had a great time. It was so good to meet the local choirs who had such varied programmes and were so friendly and welcoming.
Thanks too to Giacomo and Alberto. What a lovely young man Alberto is. We think he will go far if he joins his father in the business!
It was a shame that there was only one other choir from outside Italy as it would have been good to meet other choirs from around Europe. Hopefully this will improve now that things are opening up much more.
Many thanks again from all of us.
Pat
Chair
Songworks Edinburgh Community Choir
Le 5 Cop’s – Switzerland – 2019
Bonjour Giuliano, bonjour Barbara,
Nous voici de retour chez nous avec de magnifiques souvenirs musicaux, touristiques et gastronomiques et beaucoup de nouveaux amis !
Merci pour cette belle organisation et de nous avoir fait découvrir une belle région.
Nous espérons avoir le plaisir de vous croiser à nouveau, surtout toi, Giuliano, Barbara, ce sera peut-être pour une autre fois !?! Transmettez également toute notre amitié à Alberto qui a été un guide parfait pendant tout notre séjour.
Amicales salutations à vous deux..
Pour les 5 Cop’s :
Jean-Marc Revaz
Liepos – Lithuania – 2019
Dear Barbara,
I’m writing to let you know that we are back home safe and sound – full of unforgettable impressions, beautiful music, friendships and fallen in love with Sardinia.
Please forward kindest gratitude from our conductor Audronė and all Liepos to Mr. President and Alberto who both surrounded us with sincere care and attention. It was a pleasure to meet their beautiful family.
The festival is amazing and very well organized – you could feel that every detail has been carefully thought over, everything was clear an on time. Exceptionally good food. Nice hotel with helpful staff. Friendly and kind drivers.
The places to visit were chosen with love as well as remarkable places for concerts. We were happy to sing together with so good and interesting guest and local choirs, see their nice national costumes.
During our additional day we’ve visited some places of interest in Sant’ Antioco and were honored to be accepted by Mrs. Chiara Vigo – the Maestro del Bisso.
Many thanks for our “special prize” – trip to Cagliari. It is a beautiful city and we saw Flamingos!
Dear Barbara, thank you for leading us to this amazing event through all administrative things. Its a pity that we couldn’t meet there, but hope to meet you some day somewhere between Graz, Verona and Sant’ Antioco 🙂
Thank you again for all you’ve made for us! We are spreading the news already via facebook. So hopefully you will have more Lithuanian choirs in your following editions both in Sardinia and Verona.
We’ve brought home Sun from Sardinia!
Warmest regards,
Danutė Kniūkštienė
Voci Amici – Switzerland – 2019
Cher Giuliano, Chère Barbara,
Hier soir, nous étions de retour dans nos foyers…le c(h)œur de tous les participants a vibré pendant 5 jours pour de multiples raisons : accueil chaleureux et généreux pour notre groupe Voci Amici grâce à la présence rassurante et amicale de Giuliano qui a porté toute son attention à notre bien-être, à notre confort… rencontres magnifiques avec d’autres chœurs, d’autres chanteurs et pour moi d’autres chefs de chœurs, musiques à partager, à recevoir et à offrir, amitié, sourires, clins d’œil, embrassades, émotions, découvertes de magnifiques paysages et de lieux mémorables dans lesquels vous nous avez donné la chance de chanter, et tant et tant d’instants magiques, comme des perles, des trésors précieux à notre mémoire. Nous vous devons à tous les deux tous ces bonheurs vécus pendant 5 jours au soleil de la Sardaigne. Ce soleil n’est pas un vain mot ; nous l’avons emporté dans notre c(h)oeur et le gardons précieusement pour éclairer les longs mois sombres d’hiver de nos cœurs et de nos montagnes.
MILLE MERCIS pour tant de générosité, de chaleur humaine. MILLE MERCIS également à Giuliano pour ton idée superbe de réunir des chœurs et de favoriser ainsi les échanges culturels entre les pays et l’animation de cette région merveilleuse.
Vraiment, je suis heureuse d’avoir eu la chance de vivre ces instants extraordinaires avec mes chanteurs. Tous sont rentrés au pays rayonnants et tout emplis de reconnaissance envers vous. Je vous transmets leurs plus chaleureux remerciements.
Je vous souhaite à tous les deux une bonne continuation dans vos activités, vos projets, votre vie. Je vous embrasse affectueusement et vous souhaite une belle suite d’été.
Anne-Françoise et les « Amici »
Europa Cantat di Reano – Italy – 2016
Carissimi Barbara e Giuliano, queste poche parole per farvi giungere il nostro (e mio personale) più sentito grazie per la bellissima esperienza che abbiamo vissuto in questi giorni appena passati!
Una così importante e complessa manifestazione è potuta svolgersi ed arrivare a coclusione in un modo tanto lusinghiero perchè voi lo avete voluto e attuato con grande passione e capacità.
Sappiate dunque che il ricordo di quanto ci avete regalato rimarrà prezioso nel cuore di tutti noi!
Arturo Giolitti ed il Coro Europa Cantat di Reano
La Magnanarelle – Belgium – 2016
Dear Barbara,
In the name of all the singers of La Magnanarelle, I would like to thank you for the perfect organisation of the choir festival we attended. It was a great opportunity to get to know both local and international choirs and also that part of Sardinia. I personally will certainly want to return next year, maybe at the same time as the festival is being held and go to different concerts as a spectator.
We will especially want to go back to Santadi and Sant’Anna Arresi to meet up with some of the local singers there. In addition, we had close contacts with the Singkreis Deuerling and the Angelica singers and I intend following their future activities.
Please pass on my and our thanks to Professor Rinaldi for a very successful festival.
All the best in friendly Graz and maybe see you next year in Sant’Antioco,
Best regards, Jaroslav Dedek.
Buona sera Cara Barbara,
Spero che tu stai bene dopo tutte queste grande fattiche del Festival ?.
Appena rincasata voglio ringraziaTi per il bellissimo soggiorno che abbiamo vissuto graziie alla vostra perfetta organizazione ,la qualità dell accoglienza e lla vostra gentilezza verso di ciascuno di noi .
Questa espérienza musicale e umana sarà per noi tutti un ricordo bellissimo e indimenticabile.
Tanti saluti e ricordi .
Yvette. ——————————
