Cal Lutheran Professor Earns Top Honors in International Choral Conductor Competition

California Lutheran University’s Franco Basili placed third in the 4th Romano Gandolfi International Competition for Choral Conductors, his first international competition strictly focused on conducting. Choral directors from around the world participated in the biennial competition held in Parma, Italy. It aims to spread the passion for choral music and help rising conductors establish an international conducting career.

“It is definitely an honor for me,” said Basili, DMA, an assistant music professor at Cal Lutheran and the director of Choral Activities. “The other competitors were fantastic. It has been a bucket list item to do one of these competitions to meet other conductors and see what I can learn from them.”

For the three-day competition, choral directors were judged on a wide variety of repertoires, styles and ensembles. Participants conducted amateur and professional singers in ensembles that included an early music all-male group, symphonic chorus, children’s chorus, mixed chamber choir, Gregorian chant ensemble and a treble voices chamber choir.

“In total, we had 45 pieces in the repertoire list,” Basili said. “They would let you know what you had to conduct the night before or right on the spot, drawing a piece from a bag. … These kinds of situations really push you to your limits, which is something we are not accustomed to in our day-to-day lives.”

At Cal Lutheran, Basili combines research, teaching and artistic leadership to promote choral singing as an educational, cultural and social force. He has directed community and university choirs in Argentina and was the director of the Chancel Choir at Grace Presbyterian Church in Houston, rehearsal conductor for the Houston Symphony Chorus and intern with the Grammy Award-winning Houston Chamber Choir. As a singer, Basili has performed with the World Youth Choir in Europe, China and Canada, and collaborated with orchestras and symphonic choirs in major works.

The competition expanded the nuances of Basili’s conducting, which he has incorporated into his work with Cal Lutheran’s choir, he said. “During our recent concerts, I had a lot of fun focusing the students on my gestures and making some changes on the spot,” he said. “We established a different level of connection, and it gives us room to always have a fresh version of the music we are performing.”

Based in Bologna, Italy, AERCO (Associazione Emiliano Romagnola Cori) hosts the Romano Gandolfi International Competition for Choral Conductors. Founded in 1971, the association promotes choral activity throughout the region by offering its 220 member choirs many training, artistic and technical opportunities.