Thessaloniki – Italian composer Francesco Darmanin has been awarded third prize at the prestigious Dimitri Mitropoulos International Composition Competition in Greece, with his orchestral work Komorebi. The piece will be published by Edizioni Curci in collaboration with CIDIM – Italian National Music Committee.
The results were announced on November 2 at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, where the finalists’ works were performed by the State Symphony Orchestra of Thessaloniki conducted by Miltos Logiadis. The international jury — chaired by Tan Dun and including David Bruce, Michalis Economou, Christos Hatzis, Christos Samaras, and John Psathas — selected the winners among more than 90 submissions from around the world.
“Thessaloniki and its orchestra have left a deep mark on me,” said Darmanin. “I’m profoundly grateful to the jury and the musicians who transformed my score into sound with such brilliance and sensitivity. Komorebi — the Japanese word for the light filtering through the leaves — explores the ever-changing metamorphoses of light from dawn to the glowing hours of the afternoon.”
The recognition adds to Darmanin’s growing list of achievements, including awards from the 2 Agosto International Composition Competition (Bologna), the Mendelssohn Competition (Ascoli Piceno), Cammini di Francesco (Sansepolcro), and Dante700 (Prato).