Belluno, a crossroads of music and the Dolomites

Chantal Ramona Veit’s flute wins the “International Music Competition City of Belluno 2026” and conquers Belluno: an academic and Young Jury double, before the audience of Teatro Buzzati and Mr. Paolo Fazioli

Belluno, 3 May 2026 – There are moments when the chronicle of a music competition stops being mere chronicle and becomes something else. It happened this afternoon on the stage of Teatro Buzzati, during the Grand Final of the eighth edition of the International Music Competition City of Belluno, when from the audience there stepped onto the stage a gentleman of discreet elegance, bearing a name that, in the world of the piano, is as good as a guarantee: Mr. Paolo Fazioli.

He had come to Belluno, quite simply, to listen to the notes of his own piano. That Fazioli F278 concert grand, supplied for the occasion by “Pianoforti Di Marco” of Cervignano del Friuli, that for weeks had been the companion of study and emotion for the young finalists of the piano sections. And in front of the Belluno audience, before the prizegiving, he wished to symbolically shake hands with the organisers, expressing his compliments for having brought to the final eleven soloists capable of representing an instrumental panorama of rare breadth: from the piano to the guitar, from the transverse flute to the piccolo, from the harp to the violin, all the way to the euphonium.

A piano-maker among the audience, not a guest of honour

Those who know Paolo Fazioli know that his is never a formal appearance. The engineer and founder of Fazioli Pianoforti of Sacile, who in just a few decades has brought an Italian brand to compete at the highest world levels alongside Steinway, Bösendorfer and Yamaha, has the habit of personally listening to his own instruments played in the most varied contexts. A sort of quality control turned into musical listening, where the maker becomes once again, first and foremost, a music lover.

His presence at Teatro Buzzati had something emblematic about it: a small provincial competition — born and grown in the halls of Palazzo Fulcis and in Belluno’s Auditorium just returned to the city after twelve years of restoration — capable of attracting the attention of one of the most respected names in world piano-making. Not to hand out a prize, not to unveil a plaque, but for the simple pleasure of hearing young men and women perform.

Authorities on stage: institutions, sponsors, territory

The evening of the Grand Final saw a significant cross-section of the territory’s institutional and economic fabric file across the stage. For FBP – Cassa di Fassa, Primiero and Belluno, main sponsor of the event, the representatives Radamondo and Scopel took the stage, underlining the role of cooperative credit in supporting youth culture. Representing the Belluno-Treviso Chamber of Commerce, also a partner of the competition, was Ivana Del Pizzol.

In the audience, the final was followed by the Prefect of Belluno, Dr. Antonello Roccoberton, the Belluno City Council Member Lorenza De Kunovich, and Regional Councillor Alessandro Del Bianco, representing the Veneto Region. A choral institutional presence, testifying that the competition is now considered, to all effects, a strategic event for the cultural promotion of the Dolomite territory.

Particularly heartfelt was the address by Maestro Rinaldi of the Chromatica Association from Zero Branco (Treviso), accompanied by its president, who spoke passionate words about his association’s daily commitment to keeping alive the flame of music among young people: a phrase that, on its own, sums up better than any analysis the meaning of an event such as this.

The special prizes: memory, talent, emotion

The heart of the prizegiving ceremony lay in the special prizes, each with its own story to tell.

Next came the three institutional prizes of the evening.

The Riccardo Conati Prize, awarded by the Spirito Nuovo Association, went to harpist Silvia Cape. It was presented by Dr. Gianfranco Conati, honorary ambassador of Spirito Nuovo, who wished to remember the figure of his father Riccardo, a great music lover. A prize that, from now on, year after year, will manage to hold together the dimension of artistic recognition and the deeper one of affectionate memory.

The Young Jury Prize, a new feature of this edition awarded by a jury composed of young musicians, was presented to Chantal Ramona Veit, a flautist capable of seamlessly alternating the transverse flute and the piccolo. The motivation, read by the Young Jury, focused on the emotion conveyed: a difficult criterion to quantify yet fundamental, and the young jurors stressed how complex it had been to choose, given the quality of all the finalists. The scholarship was offered by the Belluno Blood Donors Association (ABVS), and was presented by Dr. Conati himself, here representing Belluno’s blood donors: a happy short-circuit between music and civic engagement, between art and donation.

The final verdict of the City of Belluno Competition

The academic jury of the Competition openly admitted the difficulty of the choice, given the high and homogeneous level of the contestants. The final verdict saw four young protagonists on the podium, with different stories and origins.

Eleven finalists, seven instruments, one single evening

The element that most struck Mr. Fazioli, and that deserves to be highlighted, is precisely that of the instrumental variety of the Grand Final. Eleven young soloists took to the stage, each bringing their own timbral voice:

• the piano, naturally, the true protagonist thanks to the Fazioli F278 made available for the occasion;
• the guitar, an instrument often considered «niche» in classical competitions yet here fully valued;
• the transverse flute and the piccolo, which showed their versatility in the hands of winner Veit;
• the harp, a rare and precious presence, also the result of the consolidated collaboration with the Arpa Foundation of Pisa;
• the violin, soul of the Italian chamber and solo tradition;
• the euphonium, a brass instrument with a warm, baritonal voice, an unexpected and pleasantly surprising presence for a classical competition.

A choice that testifies to the philosophy of the competition conceived by the Gocce di Sole APS Association, chaired by Manuela Selvestrel, and by the artistic direction composed of Maestros Manolo Da Rold, Alessio Nelli and Andrea Moro: not a sectorial competition, but a great container in which young talent measures itself on every front, from the school world to the academic, from modern to operatic singing, from chamber music to choirs.

Belluno, crossroads of music and the Dolomites

The 2026 edition unfolded over 14 competition days, from 12 April to 3 May, with over 270 auditions, around 1,000 young people involved and 30 jury members. The historic venues — Palazzo Fulcis and Teatro Buzzati — were joined this year by Belluno’s Auditorium, finally reopened after more than fifteen years of closure. In opera singing, young performers took part from China, Korea, Germany and Portugal, confirming an international vocation that grows year after year.

The image of Paolo Fazioli applauding from the Belluno audience must be set in this picture: an Alpine city that, through music, presents itself as a crossroads of experiences and talents. The fact that one of the world’s most sought-after piano-makers — whose instruments are chosen by the great halls of Tokyo, New York and Vienna — should have decided to attend the Grand Final of the Belluno competition, and to take to the stage to thank the organisers, says a great deal about the level this event has reached.

It also says, perhaps, something deeper. It says that musical quality, when it is genuine, does not need metropolitan stages to be recognised. It can be born and flourish in a provincial city, at the foot of the Dolomites, provided there are people willing to build it day after day: tireless organisers, sponsors who believe in the territory, competent juries, families who accompany their children, and young people who study for hours at the piano, guitar, flute, harp, violin and euphonium.

Mr. Fazioli, by stepping onto the Buzzati stage to applaud the eleven finalists, recognised all this. And he reminded Belluno, if there were any need, that music is a language capable of bringing the world among the mountains, and the mountains into the world.

A heartfelt thank you

An evening like that of 3 May is not built by chance, and is not built alone. A heartfelt thank you goes to the Gocce di Sole APS Association, and in particular to its president Manuela Selvestrel, who for eight editions has put passion, energy and vision at the service of young musicians.

A competition (masterfully presented by Matteo Gobbo Trioli) that grows year after year, that opens new sections, that attracts international jurors and guests, that brings to the stage rare instruments and unprecedented ensembles: behind all this lies daily work made of phone calls, meetings, sponsor research, jury organisation, contestant hospitality. Work that is too often taken for granted, and that instead deserves to be acknowledged.

A special thanks also goes to the Bellunesi nel Mondo Association, which broadcast the Facebook live stream of the evening, allowing Belluno emigrants scattered across the five continents to follow the Grand Final step by step from their own living room. A gesture consistent with the association’s historic mission: holding together a community that, since forever, has lived divided between its territory of origin and distant places of work. In this way too, music becomes a bridge.

The City of Belluno International Music Competition is organized by the Gocce di Sole APS Association, in collaboration with the Municipality of Belluno. It enjoys the patronage of the Province of Belluno, the Fondazione Teatri delle Dolomiti, ANCI, ASAC Veneto, AICS, ABVS, Inner Wheel, Spirito Nuovo and the Efesto Foundation. Main sponsor: FBP – Cassa di Fassa, Primiero and Belluno. Sponsor: Lattebusche, Dolomiti Pharmacies, Giesse Risarcimento Danni, Biasiotto Vini, OLItalia Modena, VHV Insurance.