The ninth edition of the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino (CLIP), an international music competition, concluded on July 23. Organized by the Associazione Bottesini, in collaboration with the town of Portofino, the Teatro Carlo Felice, the event, for the first time this year, included the Paganini Prize among the organizers.

Thanks to the collaboration between the Paganini Prize and the Bottesini Competition, the current prize-holders from the respective organizations performed on the final evening: Giuseppe Gibboni, a violinist originally from Salerno, who won the Paganini Prize in 20221, and Julián Medina, an Argentine contrabassist, winner of the eighth edition of the Bottesini Prize, held in Cremona last October. The members of the public gathered in Portofino’s main square were struck by their performance of the Gran Duo Concertante by Giovanni Bottesini, better known as “the Paganini of the Contrabbasso.” The reaction of the audience was such that the two virtuoso performers agreed to an encore: Paganini’s Primo e Secondo Capriccio, in a masterful rendition by Giuseppe Gibboni, and Ibérique Péninsuliare, composed by François Rabbath, in a memorable performance by Julián Medina.

The two historic competitions, united on this occasion for the first time, and recognized for their excellence on an international level, pursue similar goals, the valorization of the extraordinary Italian musical patrimony and support for emerging talent.

We convey our congratulations to all of the competitors and, especially, to the winner Nina Van Essen, a twenty-nine-year-old Dutch mezzosoprano.