Novara - Guido Cantelli International Conducting Award

The Competition is open to young conductors aged between 18 and 35 from around the world, who come to Novara for each edition to take part in a high-level artistic competition. Throughout the various stages of the Competition, participants conduct the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, demonstrating their technical skills, musical sensitivity and interpretative abilities before a jury made up of leading figures from the international music scene.

The Cantelli Competition is much more than a competition: it is an opportunity to support emerging talent, celebrate the great tradition of symphonic music, and witness the emergence of careers that will shape the future of music.

XIV edition | 1 - 4 October 2026

The XIV edition of the Competition took place from 1 to 4 October 2026 between Milan and Novara. From 1 to 3 October, the elimination rounds and semifinals were held at the Auditorium Fondazione Cariplo in Milan. The final took place on 4 October at the Teatro Coccia in Novara in form of a concert open to the public.

Throughout all rounds, the competitors performed with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, partner of the Cantelli Competition since 2024.

The prize money amounted to €12,000 for First Prize, €8,000 for Second Prize and €5,000 for Third Prize.

The candidates taking part in the XIV edition were:

Nicolò Azzena (33, Italy)
Maria Bazou (27, Greece)
Jooyoung Florian Chang (29, Austria)
Etienne Ferrer (33, France)
Giovanni Fanizza (30, Italy)
Rémi Geniet (34, France)
Guro Haugli (32, Norway)
Feifan Jiang (25, China)
Daniel Seonggeun Kim (30, Germany)
Henry Kennedy (30, United Kingdom)
Yuta Kobayashi (29, Japan)
Dongjun Lee (29, South Korea)
Mauro Mariani (33, Italy)
Alfonso Piacentini (31, Puerto Rico)
Ondřej Soukup (31, Czech Republic)
Arseniy Shkaptsov (33, Switzerland)
Marco Orazio Vallone (24, Italy)

Main Jury

The Main Jury was chaired by Donato Renzetti and included Roanna Gibson (Concerts & Planning Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra), Didier de Cottignies (Artistic Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo), Riccardo Frizza (Artistic Consultant of the Cantelli Competition, Music Director and Artistic Director of Donizetti Opera in Bergamo, and Honorary Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir), Patrick Fournillier (Music Director of the National Opera of Warsaw Teatr Wielki), Cristina Rocca (Vice President, Artistic Planning, Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Corrado Rovaris (Music Director of Opera Philadelphia), and Ryuichiro Sonoda (Artistic Director of Fujisawa City Opera and Principal Conductor of the Pacific Philharmonia Tokyo).

The winners

First Place - Feifan Jiang

Second Place - Yuta Kobayashi

Third Place - Mauro Mariani

Premio Cantelli will return in 2028 (5 – 8 October)

Follow all the latest updates at www.premiocantelli.it.