La Banda Che Unisce Generazioni: Concerto e Premiazione Concorso Nazionale

On December 17, 2025, at 8:00 PM, a special light will shine on Puglia and its musical history at the Norba Cinema Theatre in Conversano, with free admission: the final concert of the national "Davide Gaetano D'Accolti" competition, with the announcement of the winners, promoted by the Regional Council of Puglia with the support of the Municipality of Conversano. This event celebrates the meeting of memory, young talents, and a tradition that continues to vibrate in the present.

It will be an evening where two lives – that of Giuseppe Piantoni, one of the most representative masters of the great season of Puglian bands, and that of Davide Gaetano D'Accolti, a young musician and student of the Bari Conservatory who tragically passed away – seem to touch, united by the same passion for music and the desire to make it a daily breath, a way to exist in the world.

Our association, Musicad’Incanto Davide Gaetano d’Accolti, envisioned and curated this project with the young students of Italian Conservatories in mind: to offer them the chance to approach early 20th-century works not as pages closed in time but as living stories to be interpreted with new eyes and today's emotions. The transcriptions in competition (San Francesco D’Assisi originally for organ from 1940, and Monte Conero originally for piano from 1941) from the valuable collection of the Giuseppe Piantoni Study Center Music Association, a prestigious cultural entity from Puglia and co-organizer of both the competition and this final evening, give voice back to a cultural heritage that still speaks to Puglia, its patronal festivals, its squares, and its deep identity.

During the final evening, enriched by the screening of a short video made by videomaker Michele Pascale, dedicated to Piantoni and the role of bands in Conversano and throughout the region, works transcribed for the first time by young composers selected by a special Commission, featuring prominent names like m° Nicola Scardicchio, a prestigious professor at the Bari Conservatory and personal friend of Davide, and m° Caterina Santoro, will be performed by the Pugliese Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted for the occasion by Major Filippo Cangiamila, a musician and conductor of great prestige who has graced the most important stages in the country – from La Scala Theatre to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia – and who currently leads the Italian Army Band in its national and international engagements.

During the evening, the winners of the competition will be announced, whose works will be published by the prestigious Boario publishing house of Turin, and then donated to the Italian Conservatories: a symbolic and concrete gesture that entrusts to the future the continuity of a musical and human legacy too precious to be forgotten.

This concert is not just an endpoint. It is a beginning. It is proof that tradition can be renewed, that memory can become a leap, and that the Puglian band culture – thanks to the support of the Puglian Regional Council and the commitment of the collaborating entities – continues to generate beauty, talents, and opportunities. It is the truest way to remember Davide and Piantoni: to make the music live again so that music continues to give life.