Dear Giacomo!
Thank You for Your heat warming words and feedback. Here is what I would like to say about the festival: Al Sole della Sardegna was the first international festival where Tallinki Naiskoor  (Tallink´s female choir) participated in.

The event was organized beautifully. We were very well taken care of, we were pampered every step of the way. All the information about the upcoming day was clear, if any changes in the timetable were needed, it was noted.

The venues in which we performed were breathtaking and we are sure that there are only in Sardinia venues as beautiful and extraordinary as these.

The organizing committee was very friendly, warm and helpful. Whatever question we had, we got answered and assisted with no concerns. It was so nice that we could meet the other choirs outside the venues, too, for example during common lunches and dinners.   

We also liked, that there was plenty of free time to enjoy the beautiful Sardinia, the amazing beaches, nice little shops and wonderful restaurants. The Sardinian people are the best hosts in the world, always happy and helpful.

Thank You, Giacomo and the whole organizational team for a splendid festival. We will always have the Sardinian sun in our hearts.

Kind regards
Tiina

Les chœurs de saint Maur, accompagnés de leurs trois musiciens, sont revenus enchantés, enthousiasmés, par ces 5 jours en Sardaigne. Leur participation au festival a gravé dans les cœurs, à tout jamais, d’émouvants souvenirs. L’accueil chaleureusement solaire que nous avons reçu de Giacomo a établi très vite entre nous une relation cordiale qui nous a accompagnés tout au long de cette grande et belle aventure musicale et humaine.
Ce festival était merveilleusement préparé et nous avons apprécié la qualité de présence de nos deux organisateurs, le talent avec lequel ils ont mené cette magnifique entreprise et la grande ouverture artistique qu’ils offrent à tous les chœurs qui se rassemblent pour faire entendre leurs voix. Sur le plan musical, c’est fantastique ; sur le plan humain c’est une expérience de fraternité universelle.
Les lieux de concerts étaient inédits. Comment ne pas rêver encore de cet embarquement sur le ferry pour l’île de San Pietro et de notre premier concert à l’Eglise de Carloforte ! 

La chaude atmosphère de ce premier soir, les lumières et la vie sur cette place animée, le lancement du festival par Giacomo et notre concert, tous bien serrés devant l’autel, fatigués du voyage, mais avec une énergie communicative ! C’était magique !
Quel étrange lieu nous attendait, le second soir ! les impressionnantes grottes de Domusnovas ! Dans cet univers mythique, le petit vent qui tournait les pages à notre insu et les gouttes d’eau des stalactites sur les partitions ont contribué au charme insolite de cette soirée avec les chorales espagnole et estonienne
Un lieu inédit nous attendait pour le troisième concert à la tombée de la nuit : La torre Sabauda de Calasetta qui domine la mer nous a accueillis à ses pieds, dans la pénombre, avec ce petit stress pour les chanteurs de ne pas bien voir la partition. L’éclairage en demi- teinte de cet extérieur inattendu apportait une touche romantique à cette soirée à laquelle participait aussi un chorale argentine haute en couleurs.
Le dernier concert dans la basilique Sant’Antioco , à l’architecture si porteuse pour la voix, restera pour nous un moment de très forte chaleur certes, mais surtout le lieu d’une sonorité exceptionnelle qui a donné à nos chants et à ceux des chorales de Pologne et d’Estonie un éclat, qui a clôturé dans la splendeur ce fantastique festival.
Nous tenions à couvrir d’éloges et de mercis Giuliano, le talentueux orchestrateur de ces manifestations musicales dont nous avons bénéficiées. Ce fut le Cantique de Racine de Fauré que nous lui avons offert avec ses nuances qu’il aime et la force émotionnelle qu’il dégage. Nous voulions aussi exprimer à Giacomo notre reconnaissance pour sa présence permanente, discrète et attentive a ce que le festival nous apporte, chaque jour, le meilleur confort possible.
Le logement dans les hôtels était parfait ; les sorties, les bains de mer étaient très bien choisis pour découvrir cette île enchanteresse. L’ambiance du groupe était au diapason de ces formidables journées musicales.
C’est ainsi que le dernier jour à Cagliari au cours du repas très animé, partagé avec Giacomo, Geneviève a pris son violon en laissant battre son cœur ;                                    les mélodies et les rythmes ont alors fusé. Laurence à son tour a fait entendre un chant de Carmen des plus brillants et Anne- Léa s’est jointe à elle pour un duo improvisé d’un grand lyrisme !

Puis ce fut le temps de l’au revoir : un moment de nostalgie, le cœur rempli de musique, de paysages, de visages, de souvenirs ! Giacomo, comment vous oublier ? Les mains tendues en cette séparation, nous vous chantons un immense merci !

Soeur Noëlle Cotillon – Chef de Choeur

« …. Nous avons participé au festival de Sardaigne avec un bonheur immense !

Votre accueil, votre organisation, votre talent artistique apportent à ces manifestations de la voix un véritable enrichissement humain et musical à tous ceux qui se rassemblent chez vous et qui baignent dans cet extraordinaire univers pendant cinq jours.

Merci à vous pour tout l’intérêt que vous portez à notre chœur. Nous y sommes très sensibles et nous désirons vraiment, si cela est possible, mettre en place un nouveau projet avec vous.

Avec l’espoir de vous revoir, cette année, à l’un ou l’autre de nos concerts, je vous renouvelle toute la reconnaissance de notre chœur en vous assurant de notre cordiale amitié. »

Daniel Tirouflet
Président des chœurs de Saint Maur

Dear Friends

Our participation in the Sardinia Choir Festival was an exceptional and highly rewarding experience.
We would particularly like to highlight the excellent hotel accommodations, which provided comfortable conditions and contributed greatly to the enjoyment of our stay.

Special recognition goes to our outstanding resident guide, Rogero. His professionalism, dedication, kindness, and remarkable organizational skills ensured that everything ran smoothly throughout the festival. Rogero was always available to help, solve problems, and share his extensive knowledge of Sardinian history, culture, and traditions. His enthusiasm, warmth, and sense of humor made a lasting impression on all participants and significantly enriched our experience.

The festival itself offered a wonderful opportunity to present our musical achievements, meet fellow choirs, exchange experiences, and build new international friendships. We return home with unforgettable memories, fresh inspiration, and a deep appreciation for the organizers and everyone involved in making this event such a success!

Kind regards
Semper Communio Choir

Lieber Giuliano,
wir sind nun wieder zu Hause, und ich finde endlich die Zeit, dir und deinen Kindern zu danken.

Wir haben wunderbare Tage in Portoscuso verbracht; die Konzerte haben mir,
Claudia und dem gesamten Chor eine riesige Freude bereitet. Ihr habt alles perfekt
organisiert und uns herrliche Momente beschert.
Herzlichen Dank für alles – wir kommen sicher wieder.
Solltest du jemals nach Deutschland kommen, bist du herzlich eingeladen; wir würden uns sehr freuen,
denn unser Haus steht Freunden immer offen.

Herzliche Grüße auch von Claudia und dem ganzen Chor.
Alles Liebe, Kai

Caro Giacomo,
Ora che sono tornato a Buenos Aires, vorrei ringraziarti per la splendida esperienza che abbiamo vissuto con Finisterra.

Abbiamo trascorso dei giorni fantastici e devo dire che l’intera organizzazione è stata superba.

Quindi grazie di tutto e in bocca al lupo per la prossima edizione!

Un abbraccio

Esteban Roldán
director

MUSICAMÉRICA | coro de cámara
ARMONÍA BUENOS AIRES | mujeres de música

Dear Alberto!

We have returned to Estonia nicely and our faces have a smile because we are happy.
The festival was organized perfectly. We had the opportunity to sing in wonderful historical places and also enough to rest under the Sardinian sun.
Your cordial and sincere care of us moved us to the bottom of the soul.
We are very grateful to you!

Many thanks for the invitation to the Verona Festival!

We will discuss this with the choir in the near future and I will announce if we can participate in the festival.

You are doing a great job of organizing choir festivals! Many thanks again! You are always welcome to visit Tallinn! We are there for you.

With heartfelt greetings
Margit and Carmina

 Il Coro Lirico San Giovanni ha vissuto appieno questa esperienza
Accompagnati da condizioni meteo favorevoli abbiamo “gustato” questa splendida parte della Sardegna sia dal punto di vista naturalistico con uno splendido mare e paesaggi fantastici (Nebida), sia da quello culturale-artistico: le locations in cui cisiamo esibitisono state “da togliere il fiato”
(Domusnovas e Tratalias).
Abbiamo visto il pubblico apprezzare il nostro repertorio accompagnando sottovoce i brani eseguiti e sottolineandolo con applausi scroscianti (abbiamo visto alcuni spettatori con il viso rigato da qualche
lacrima di commozione).

Anche il mix proposto con gli altri cori presenti (i cori locali, il coro estone “CARMINA” e quello canadese “AMIVOIX DE VARENNE”) ha contribuito al successo della rassegna.

Un particolare ringraziamento va all’organizzazione del Festival sempre puntuale e sempre cordiale che ha reso possibile tutto ciò.
Speriamo di cuore che questa esperienza si possa ripetere in un prossimo futuro
GRAZIE di cuore

Dear Giacomo

Thank you for your words , we also thank you for the organization of the Festival; everybody has been very nice towards us (guide, hotels, restaurants and so on….) We have had some nice moments in Sardegna and we thank you for that; also Maestro Emanuel thanks you very much.

Maybe we will meet again….

With best wishes

Helena Zuber

Ciao Giacomo, mio caro amico,

Anche con te abbiamo trascorso delle giornate molto belle. Hai fatto tutto bene.
Grazie per il fantastico momento e ci rivedremo.

Cordiali saluti

Jochen

Ciao Giacomo

Grazie per la vostra e-mail e i vostri gentili pensieri, che ho fatto circolare a tutti i partecipanti. Ora siamo tornati a casa sani e salvi arrivando alle 5:00 di sabato e siamo completamente riposati pronti per il nostro prossimo incarico!
Mi dispiace che non abbiamo avuto la possibilità di salutarvi e ringraziarvi. Abbiamo avuto alcune malattie nel coro, principalmente tosse e sensazione di malessere e 1 membro del coro ha saltato tre dei concerti.
Voglio ringraziarvi ancora una volta per la vostra eccellente organizzazione e l’assistenza del vostro staff. Scriverò presto una testimonianza che potrai utilizzare sul tuo sito web.
Spero che tu ti senta presto meglio.

Alan

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 »

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