You can find the rules and application form HERE.

Who is it addressed to?

Folkest Showcase is open to groups from all European Union countries, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Tunisia, and Ukraine. Each artist or group must propose a World Music project, be able to perform a 40-minute showcase concert, and be ready to undertake an intensive program, including meetings, seminars, networking sessions, and during their stay in San Daniele del Friuli. To participate, musicians must be under 35, have released no more than three albums (the first album must have been released no more than five years prior to registration), must be be truly emerging and therefore have no more than 20,000 followers on social media, and therefore must not have participated in an international tour longer than ten dates, and must not have a contract an international label. At the same time, they must have held at least one concert in a professional context and have a web presence, although not massive, certainly professional (website and social media).

The selected artists will be announced by March 21, 2026, on the Folkest website and social media channels.

This is a unique and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be seen and heard by international agents, festival programmers, music curators, and our festival audience, but also to receive feedback from industry professionals, expand their professional relationships, and the opportunity to be hired for future performances and participate in training programs.
It is important to remember how Folkest Showcases are a valuable opportunity for artists to access all the festival’s concerts, network events, study meetings, and professional training programs. They also offer a chance to meet music industry professionals agents, festivals, music programmers and curators, journalists, and experts and thus enhance their knowledge of the professional music scene and the relationships needed to make music a real career. This is precisely the focus of the seminars and professional training programs reserved for musicians.

Folkest Showcase is a member of UPBEAT – European Platform for World Music Showcases. Our showcase program is supported by Upbeat, the European Union, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, the Friuli Foundation, and the Municipality of San Daniele del Friuli.

For information: showcase@folkest.com – TEL. +39 0432 1723158

L'articolo The call for applications for the 2026 edition of Folkest Showcase-Upbeat, Folkest’s section dedicated to emerging international artists, is now open. sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

30 May – 27 July

Among the guests: Tazenda, Le Orme, Moni Ovadia, Joachim Cooder, Allan Taylor, 99 Posse, Giua & Riccardo Tesi

The lines of the 47th edition of Folkest have been defined, and this year too it presents itself with an adage that clearly paints its features: a festival curious about the world. It opens on 30th May with a concert dedicated to the music of David Crosby, in collaboration with Guitar International, in Cervignano del Friuli. This is followed by the traditional La Fieste da Sedon, the festival of Friulian folk musicians, on 1st June at Ragogna Castle; on 8th June the friends of the Cantina Tavagnacco, in collaboration with the Cooperativa Itaca, return. This year’s event will feature the Cinque uomini sulla cassa del morto and the Capitano tutti a noi. On 12th June, the section of Folkest in its Local Area kicks off, enlivening throughout June, with a few offshoots in July, the territories of Friuli Venezia Giulia with music and encounters with national and international personalities. Then, from 3rd to 6th July, there are the eagerly awaited San Daniele Days with great guests, seminars, and the Folkest Showcases, in collaboration with UpBeat, with artists from all over Europe, meetings with sector operators with the Speed Meetings, the finals of the Cesa Prize, and for the second year running, there is the Prize named after the prematurely deceased Lorenzo Marchiori, dedicated to a book on a musical subject. 

And then space for music documentaries, workshops and Treasures from the Rai Archives with Elisabetta Malantrucco and Marco Salvadori. And the festival’s lifelong friends who will speak in the workshops and presentations: Elena Ledda, Felice Liperi, Duccio Pasqua, Elisabetta Malantrucco and Martina Vocci. The big events with Folkest in Udine, during which the Folkest-a life for music award will be presented in July, are not to be missed. There will be numerous guests at the Festival: it gets off to a great start on 30th May with the Tribute to David Crosby (with Jeff Pevar & Inger Nova, Jackie Perkins and the best Italian country musicians). There will be a double date this year with Tazenda: on 14th June in Tolmezzo in acoustic; and on 27th June, together with Felice Liperi, in Romans d’Isonzo for the presentation – in words and music – of S’Istoria infinida, the biography soon to be published by Il Castello. On 29th June, on the other hand, it will be the turn of the legendary Orme, who celebrate sixty years of their musical career this year. Not to be missed is the event in Clauzetto with Michele Gazich and Giovanna Famulari and then, from 3rd July, the San Daniele events, which open with the national premiere of Yiddish Blues by and with Moni Ovadia with Michele Gazich and Giovanna Famulari. Also in San Daniele, great expectations on 5th July for Joachim Cooder, American percussionist and multi-instrumentalist, son of the giant Ry Cooder. 

Another collaboration, within the Sandanielese days, for the concert of Slovenian KiKi with the Nei suoni dei luoghi festival. Music returns in collaboration with Palchi nei Parchi on 11th July in Cividale del Friuli with the great Allan Taylor (England), with Lino Straulino. Two great guests crown the summer in Udine: 99 Posse on 21th July and Giua & Riccardo Tesi on 27th July. The partnership with UpBeat, the European Union platform created by a network made up of the fourteen most important continental showcase festivals, is back, thanks to which the days of Folkest in San Daniele will be enlivened by musicians from all over Europe, as well as by sector operators, producers, directors of other festivals and journalists. A meeting of sounds that is enriched by the proposal of the Alberto Cesa Award, six groups and individual artists from all over Italy already selected during the live evenings in Arezzo (Zerofolk Duo), in Cervasca (Stefano Turolla Trio), in Loano (Pasticcio Meticcio), in Codroipo (Urtie), in Rome Massimiliano Felice and Arbizzano (Fan Chaabi). All the groups are then asked to set to music a poem by Federico Tavan, thanks to a collaboration with Morganti Editori.

A graphic treatment by the Festival’s image manager Michela Paladini was chosen for this year’s image: an explosion of colour and rhythm. The background, vibrant and bright, tells of the primordial energy of a music that comes from the origins, from the beating of hearts, made up of encounters, cultures, rhythm and passion. The colours intertwine like voices, building a warm and welcoming atmosphere. In the centre, an illustration brings together some of the instruments of the folk world, not mere objects, but symbols of stories, of journeys, of identity. Every line vibrates, every shape sings. Ultimately a hymn to life: powerful, pulsating and free. And an invitation to let yourself be crossed by the sound, to feel its strength, to be part of it.

Folkest, under the artistic direction of Andrea Del Favero, is realised by the Associazione Culturale Folkgiornale ETS, thanks to the support of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, the Friuli Foundation, the municipalities of San Daniele del Friuli and Udine, Banca 360 and the local authorities of the more than thirty municipalities in Friuli Venezia Giulia involved, Abaco Viaggi, Cantina Tavagnacco, Cooperativa Itaca.

Folkest in the territory

The journey through the municipalities of Friuli Venezia Giulia will touch on: Gemona del Friuli, Cividale, Cervignano, Pordenone, Campoformido, Vito d’Asio, Tolmezzo, Tramonti di sopra, Basaldella di Vivaro, Gorizia, Costa (Castelnovo del Friuli), Artegna, Musi (Lusevera), San Rocco (Forgaria nel Friuli), Venzone, Corno di Rosazzo, Fiumicello (Fiumicello Villa Vicentina), San Giovanni d’Antro (Pulfero), Ronchi dei Legionari, Romans d’Isonzo, Arta Terme, Palmanova, Stevenà di Caneva, Clauzetto. And Udine. Among the artists present: From Italy Uttern, UTGANDHI solo PROJECT, The Bluegrass Baby, To loo loose, Capitano tutte e a noi, Alessandro Sipolo, Michele Gazich and Giovanna Famulari, the Apulian A3 Apulia Project and from Calabria Senduki. And international artists Lidiya Koycheva & Balkan Orkestra from Bulgaria, Matching Ties & Obrannlaig Rinceoir Dancers from the United States, England and Germany, Miguel Angel & Lautaro Acosta from Argentina, Phønix from Denmark, Mulu’s Trio from Ireland and Balkalar from Croatia.

Cesa Prize

The competition, named after the great Piedmontese musician, is now in its 21st edition and has collected over 150 applications from all over Italy. Six artists won the pass for the Folkest 2025 stage, after live selections: in Arezzo the Zerofolk Duo won, while in Cervasca the prize went to the Stefano Turolla Trio. In Loano, Pasticcio Meticcio won, while in Codroipo, Urtie stood out. In Rome, Massimiliano Felice and his band triumphed, while in Arbizzano victory went to Fan Chaabi. All six winners will take the stage at Folkest 2025 in San Daniele del Friuli, bringing their music and their personal journey between tradition and innovation before the audience of the famous festival.

This year, as last year, the finalist groups will be asked to set to music, sing and arrange a text in the Friulian language by the poet Federico Tavan di Andreis, an artistically outstanding figure, the highest voice of Friulian literature in the second half of the 20th century after Pier Paolo Pasolini. This stimulating cultural challenge has been realised in close collaboration with Morganti Editori, the publishing house that manages the rights of this great poet. The first classified will receive the Nuovo Imaie Prize and will be invited to perform at Folkest 2026 and at the Ethnos 2026 festival in Campania. While the second and third place winners will be invited to two of the Folkest evenings on the territory 2026. Once again this year, the Alberto Cesa Prize will be supported by the Nuovo Imaie.

Folkest Showcase

That is, the new European artistic proposals that Folkest will be proposing to the public and numerous international delegates, bringing their music to places of great history and charm in San Daniele: from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II to the church of Santa Maria della Fratta, passing through the church of Sant’Antonio Abate and the Terrazza della Fratta.

In addition to the Italians Darbar Mantra, La Peka and the Friulians Crotz ta Palûd, they are joined by Kiki from Slovenia, Lyre’n’Rhapsody from Greece, Nora Gharyéni from Tunisia, Hraybery from Poland and Asteria from Portugal.

The seminars

Musica in movimento – Danzare Trad at Folkest 2024, the heart of Folkest’s training offer, will feature the LarreAlde Band from the Basque Country (French side) with Basque dances and La Paranza Mediterranea with Campanian dances. They will be held in the marquee on the Fratta terrace. The Music for Musicians section will feature the customary appointment dedicated to Mediterranean vocality with Elena Ledda, one of the most significant voices of world music in Italy and Europe.

Space was also given to the Seventh Art with no less than two film contributions: the first, shot by Patrik Larralde and financed by the French Ministry of Culture, is dedicated to the ethnic minorities of Mitteleuropa and was largely filmed in San Daniele. The second one is about women, the women of Casso and a story of ordinary people who resist and continue with great efforts to keep a village alive: conceived by Giuseppina Casarin and filmed by Maurizio Callegaro, Il mio canto è memoria was produced by the Gottardo Tomat Music Association and the Friuli Philological Society. The rediscovery of the treasures of the RAI thecas continues thanks to the passionate work conducted by Elisabetta Malantrucco of RAI Techetè, who will dialogue with Marco Salvadori, president of the Centro Studi Pier Paolo Pasolini in Casarsa, and with Claudio Agostoni of Radio Popolare in Milan on a number of issues related to Pasolini, of whom some little-known or not at all known gems from the RAI archives will also be played.

Finally, Valentina Zanelli will propose an online path through a dedicated app, during which a series of topics expressly dedicated to musicians will be covered: Writing and submitting a project to access funding programs (artistic residencies, travel, new productions); Selling through email (creating a sales email, how to structure and use an email database, tracking and sending tools); Online presence (importance, building, constant growth); The show and the showcase (differences between B2B and B2C performance. How to get the best out of both situations); Copyright and related rights.

This important section of the festival represents an educational moment that is not born and dies in these days alone, but also comes as the concluding moment of a collaboration between several significant territorial realities in the field of promoting folk instrumental techniques, from Folkest to the Gottardo Tomat Association of Spilimbergo, the Furclap Association of Udine, and the da Glauco group – academiute di musiche e culture popolâr.

Odmevi/ Echoes: Cultivating the popular to populate the cultured

Kicking off from San Giovanni d’Antro, and then unraveling in mid-August, will be the third edition of a musical project born out of the collaboration between the Sergio Gaggia Association of Cividale and Folkest, in which the two associations take on the fascinating challenge of a combined musical journey between classical and popular, with a view to broadening the audience and its education, as the subtitle declares: Cultivating the popular to populate the cultured. An initiative that also aims at a tourist recovery of the valleys of Slavia Friulana, as a corollary to the events of Go! 2025 Nova Gorica and Gorizia European Capital of Culture 2025, in which this area may in turn become an emblematic symbol of an arbitrarily divided homogeneous territory. In addition to its symbolic significance, potential benefits in cross-border relations and tourist effects, the project also offers – in its exquisitely musical part – a tasty, programmatic bounce between the popular and the cultured worlds, an unprecedented avenue only occasionally visited by festivals and concert seasons.

A green vision

Proper use of resources and an effective fight against energy waste has always been among Folkest’s stated goals. In recent years, this requirement has taken significant momentum, aided in part by participation in the UpBeat project and numerous operational meetings with all the other festivals participating in the project. In addition to various other actions (recyclable plates and cutlery, water bottles, hybrid cars, etc…) from this year Folkest boasts a totally battery-operated sound and lighting system. The outdoor system, monitors, lights, mixer… everything will be battery-operated, a great little revolution that was absolutely unthinkable even just three years ago. State-of-the-art equipment exclusively for the Friulian festival, which once again proves itself capable of always putting itself one step ahead.

L'articolo Folkest 2025: the curious festival of the world sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

The territorial selection phase of the Alberto Cesa Prize, the award dedicated to music that enhances cultural roots from all over the world, has concluded. The competition, named after the great Piedmontese musician, collected more than 150 applications from all over Italy.

Six artists won the pass to the Folkest 2025 stage after live selections: in Arezzo the Zerofolk Duo won, while in Cervasca the prize went to the Stefano Turolla Trio. In Loano the Pasticcio Meticcio prevailed, while in Codroipo the Urtie stood out. In Rome, Massimiliano Felice and his band triumphed, while in Arbizzano victory went to Fan Chaabi. All six winners will take the stage at Folkest 2025 in San Daniele del Friuli, bringing their music and their personal journey between tradition and innovation before the audience of the renowned festival.

Again this year, as last year, the finalist groups will be asked to set to music, sing and arrange a text in the Friulian language by the poet Federico Tavan from Andreis, an artistically outstanding figure, the highest voice of Friulian literature in the second half of the 20th century after Pier Paolo Pasolini, a stimulating cultural challenge carried out in close collaboration with Morganti Editori, the publishing house that manages the rights of this great poet.

The first runners-up will receive the NUOVO IMAIE Prize and will be invited to perform at Folkest 2026 and Ethnos 2026. While the second and third place winners will be invited to two of Folkest’s evenings on the territory 2026.
Also this year, the Alberto Cesa Prize will be supported by Nuovo Imaie.

As Folkest’s Artistic Director Andrea Del Favero well points out, “The live dimension is a very important aspect of music on which we have always been fighting, looking for opportunities and solutions for the new proposals, often really very interesting ones, that we happen to encounter.” Precisely in this line, that is, that music can and should have as wide a diffusion as possible, but above all that it can have its own working dimension guaranteed, during the Festival all musicians present in San Daniele between July 4th and 6th will be offered, in collaboration with UpBeat, the European Platform for World Music Showcases, a wide choice of clinics, with meetings with professionals of the sector at an international level.

L'articolo Alberto Cesa Prize and Folkest Showcase Upbeat in San Daniele 2025. sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

Here is the list of winners who will take the stage at Folkest 2025 in July.

• Zerofolk Duo
• Stefano Turolla Trio
• Pasticcio Meticcio
• Urtie
• Massimiliano Felice
• Fan Chaabi

See you in San Daniele del Friuli at the main stage on the evening of July 6th 2025 for the final of the Prize!

L'articolo Alberto Cesa Prize 2025 Finalists sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

The 8 selected artists will be guests from July 4th to July 6th, 2025 in San Daniele del Friuli. During these days they will have the opportunity to be seen and heard by international agents, festival programmers, music curators and the audience of our festival as well as have access to studio meetings and the professional training tracks.

The selection of participating artists will be made by an international jury and it will be communicated on the Folkest website and social channels.

L'articolo Folkest Showcase 2025 Application Closing sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

The call for participation in Folkest Showcase powered by UPBEAT is now open: the section of the
Folkest festival program is part of the UPBEAT project, the European platform for World Music Showcases, and dedicated to live shows for emerging international artists in the panorama of this important musical genre. The selected artists will perform, in fact, between 4th and 6th July 2025 in San Daniele del Friuli, in the context of the central initiatives of the Festival. There will be 8 emerging artists chosen on the international scene for the Folkest Showcase, one of the most important Folk Festivals in Southern Europe.

Registrations, officially opened on November 20th, will end on January 20th 2025. HERE you can find the regulation and the application form.

Who is it aimed at?
The Folkest Showcases are open to artists/groups from all European Union countries and from
Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North
Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Tunisia and Ukraine.
Each artist or group must propose a World music project, be able to offer a 40-minute showcase
concert, be ready to face an intensive program, which includes meetings, seminars, relationship
meetings, Folk Clinic during their stay in San Daniele of Friuli.
To participate, musicians must be: under 35, not have made more than 3 albums (the first album must
not have been released more than 5 years before application), they must be truly emerging and
therefore not have more than 20 thousand followers on social media and therefore they must not have
participated in an international tour of more than 10 dates and must not have a contract with an
international label. At the same time, they must have held at least one concert in a professional context and have a web presence, although not massive, certainly equally professional (website and social media).

The selected artists will be communicated on March 21th, 2025 on the Folkest website and social
channels.

A unique and unrepeatable opportunity to be seen and heard by international agents, festival programmers, music curators and the audience of our festival, but also to get feedback from industry professionals, expand their professional relationships, and opportunity to be booked for future shows and participate in training courses.

It is important to remember how the Folkest Showcase – powered by UPBEAT are a precious
opportunity for artists to access all the festival concerts, network events, study meetings and professional training courses. But also to meet music industry professionals: agents, festivals, musical
programmers and curators, journalists and experts and therefore to refine the knowledge of the
professional musical environment, the functional relationships to make music a real job: to this in fact,
the focus is on seminars and professional training courses reserved for musicians.

Folkest Showcase is a member of UPBEAT – European Platform for World Music Showcases. Our showcase program is supported by Upbeat, the European Union, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the Municipality of San Daniele del Friuli.

For further information: folkestshowcase@folkest.com – +39 0432 1723158

L'articolo The call for the 2025 Folkest Showcase is open – powered by UPBEAT: the section of Folkest dedicated to emerging international artists sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

The initiative was created thanks to the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, through the Department of Productive Activities and Tourism, and the collaboration between the Folkgiornale Cultural Association and the Municipality of Caneva.

FREE ENTRANCE

L'articolo LE ORME: Autumn’s Celebration at Villa Frova sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

Registrations for Alberto Cesa Prize opens on September 9 to participate in the 2025 edition of the Alberto Cesa Prize, the annual event conceived by Folkest to enhance musical projects that know how to give voice to one or more cultural roots from anywhere in the world. Twenty editions consumed, this year the twenty-first, with more than 100 artistic proposals discovered and promoted, more than 500 artists brought to the stage to tell a repertoire of a thousand colors, of great impact on the public, otherwise little valued. The Alberto Cesa Prize, dedicated to the great Turinese musician among the leading interpreters of folk revival, is certainly unique in the panorama of National Competitions dedicated to music. Its formula is original, involving a triple passage: a first selection entrusted to a jury made up of industry professionals, journalists and musicians, which is followed by six live selections scattered along the Boot. Confirmed this year are Arezzo, Loano, Cervasca, Udine, Rome and Verona. The six groups that emerged from the territorial semifinals will land in July 2025 on the Folkest stage in San Daniele for the finals.

Very important: this year, as last year, the finalist groups will be asked to set to music, sing and arrange a text in the Friulian language by the poet Federico Tavan from Andreis (PN), an artistically outstanding figure, the highest voice of Friulian literature in the second half of the 20th century after Pier Paolo Pasolini. This phase of the Prize will be held in close collaboration with Morganti Editori, the publishing house that manages the rights to this great poet. The first runners-up will receive the Nuovo Imaie Prize and will be invited to perform at Folkest 2026 and Ethnos 2026. While the first runners-up will be invited to two of Folkest’s evenings on the territory 2026.

Alberto Cesa (1947-2010), singer, guitarist, guirondist and founder in 1974 of the Cantovivo label, was among the leading interpreters of folk revival. He sang for more than 30 years about the inconsistencies and difficulties of factory life using the language of folk music: his ability to bring together music from different backgrounds, from ballads to southern rhythms, made him a figure of reference for the entire national scene.

More recently he had devoted his output to the collection and setting to music of the Fogli Volanti, political writings and poems passed around clandestinely for decades: memorable the CD-book published in 2001 for the Manifesto.

L'articolo Press Release Alberto Cesa Prize 2025 sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

Time to register until next October 31 by midnight.

L'articolo Registration opening for Alberto Cesa Prize 2025 sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.

A Trio that tells like a whole orchestra. Ambrogio Sparagna proposes a vocal-instrumental project that allows us to get to know more closely the compositional mastery and interpretative passion of one of the most important musicians in the panorama of new Italian popular music and one of the main figures responsible for the rebirth of the accordion in Italy.

Concert on payment, below are the link for pre-sales.

L'articolo Last Event Folkest 2024: Ambrogio Sparagna Trio in Udine! sembra essere il primo su Folkest - 2026 edition.