Italy PAS Celebrates a Successful 2025 with Three Major Events
The Italy Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society (Italy PAS) had a prolific year in 2025, organizing three distinct events. Prizes were awarded for the 22nd edition of the Italy Percussion Competition (for soloists and composers), the 9th edition of the Percussion Arts Web Contest (ranging from Duo to Ensemble), and the 1st edition of a new competition dedicated exclusively to Italian percussionists.

Under the leadership of President Antonio Santangelo and Artistic Director Claudio Santangelo, a jury of 42 artists convened to adjudicate 170 soloists and 30 ensembles.

“This edition was fantastic,” remarked Antonio Santangelo. “Even with the challenge of the new in-person project at the Pescara Music Conservatory—dedicated exclusively to Italian percussionists—it was a tough but rewarding job for us and all the artists on the jury.”

A highlight of the year was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to the legendary Dave Weckl. Italy PAS recognized Weckl for his professionalism, dedication, and his role in instilling a love of drumming in generations of young enthusiasts.

Here we listened to future talents and as Gordon Staut pointed out “We all agree that it was a hard one a really big group of mostly very talented young musicians. Specially the youngest group is very impressive!”It is with great pleasure that I write about the wonderful contributions of Antonio Santangelo, President of the Italy Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society. His contributions to the percussive arts consist of many events celebrating and developing the youth of the percussion world for many years. His competitions, both in Italy and online, have encouraged and involved hundreds of young percussionists worldwide. They have also been encouraged and guided by amazing international artists from around the world, and I have been very fortunate to be involved with many of them for two years in person and now once again with them through the online marimba competition. The heart of the Italy PAS organization is one that promotes all areas of percussion performance, and is unlike any other competition that I know of in that respect. It is a complete celebration of all aspects of the world of percussion. It is impeccably organized, implemented, and a beautiful and joyous celebration of all aspects of today’s percussion world. Thank you with sincerity and gratitude for all you do for PAS, Antonio! 

Jury and winners of the ITALY PERCUSSION COMPETITION (23rd edition)
MARIMBA
Jury: Gordon Stout (USA), Eriko Daimo (Japan) and Marianna Bednarska (Poland).
Winners:
Cat. A 1st Prize abs. Xiaofu Wang (China) – 1st Prize Eren Binici (Türkiye); 2nd prize Daniel Hsieh (Australia), Suah Park (Republic of Korea), Giorgia D’Angelo (Italy), Beleca Alexandru (Romania), Sinuo Chen (China),Radu Draghici (Romania), Zining Huo (China); 3rd prize Yutong Xiao (China), Eunyoo Cho (Republic of Korea), Arthur Reznikov (Sweden)
Cat. B 1st Prize Abs. Ivaylo Koychev (Bulgaria); 1st Prize Yifan Du (China), Kyoka Anami (Japan);Ami Nakamoto (Japan); 2nd prize Benedek Bogáthy (Hungary), Hanna Piao (China), Ruito Kawahara (Japan); 3rd prize Jaejun Lee (Republic of Korea), Efe Yaşar (Türkiye)
Cat. C 1st Prize Not assigned; 2nd prize Veronika N. Toth-Potzner (Hungary); 3rd prize Ryuhei Oikawa (Japan), Lorenzo Ramundi (Italy)

VIBRAPHONE classic
Jury: Emmanuel Sejourne (France) – Ruud Wiener (Netherlands) and Saverio Tasca (Italy).
Winners:
Cat. A 1st prize Not assigned; 2nd prize Nicola Boriani (Italy); 3rd prize Not assigned
Cat. B 1st prize Not assigned; 2nd prize Javier Garza (USA); 3rd prize Matteo Este (Italy)
Cat. C 1st prize Not assigned; 2nd prize Shunsuke Nonomura (Japan); 3rd prize Not assigned

VIBRAPHONE jazz
Jury: Ed Saindon (USA) – Victor Mendoza (Mexico) and Pierpaolo Bisogno (Italy).
Winners:
Cat. J 1st Prize Martin Blouet (France); 2nd prize Not assigned; 3rd Prize Jose A. Herrera Deco (Argentina)

TIMPANI
Jury: Jeanni Zhang (China) – Arend Weitzel (Germany) and Antonio Catone (Italy).
Winners:
Cat. A 1st prize – Not assigned; 2nd Prize Vid Kranjc (Slovenia); 3rd prize Not assigned
Cat. B 1st Prize Szabari Levente (Hungary); 2nd prize and 3rd prize Not assigned
Cat. C 1st prize – Not assigned; 2nd prize Sun Yi (China), Lorenzo Ramundi (Italy), Shengming Deng (China); 3rd prize Not assigned.

SNARE DRUM
Jury: Frederic Macarez (France), John Wooton (USA) and Alexej Gerassimez (Germany).
Winners:
Cat. A 1st prize Not assigned; 2nd Prize Katsuki Kume (Japan); Efe Erşahin (Türkiye); 2nd Prize Ryunosuke Takada (Japan); Kaiwen Zheng (China); 3rd prize Not assigned
Cat. B 1st prize and 2nd prize Not assigned; 3rd prize Áron Karácsony (Hungary), Shunhe Wang (China), Hiroki Wakabayashi (Japan)
Cat. C 1st prize Not assigned; 2nd prize Lise Duarte NUÑEZ (Argentina);3rd prize Sayuri Higuchi (Japan)

MULTI PERCUSSION
Jury: Heng Liu (China), Nozomi Hiwatashi (Japan) and Grzegorz Chwaliński (Poland).
Winners:
Cat. A 1st Prize Not assigned; 2nd Prize David Iustin Constantin (Romania); 3rd Prize Not assigned
Cat. B 1st Prize Seonghyeon Yang (Republic of Korea); 2nd Prize Diogo Marques (Portugal), Jiaying Pang (China); 3rd Prize Giosuè Scarponi (Italy), Tomás Luiz (Portugal)
Cat. C 1st Prize Masaki Karino (Japan); 2nd Prize Luyao Zhang (China); 3rd Prize Not assigned

DRUM SET
Jury: Christian Grassart (France), Vera Figueiredo (Brasil) and Antonio Santangelo (Italy).
Winners:
Cat. A 1st Prize abs. Wang Yimingfei (China); 2nd prize Giovanni Cecere (Italy); 3rd prize Not assigned
Cat. B No winner
Cat. C 1st Prize Daniele Patton (Italy); 2nd prize and 3rd prize Not assigned

COMPOSITION
Jury: Anders Koppel, Kai Stensgaard (Denmark) Walter Mertens (Belgium), Carla Magnan (Italy) Richard LeVan (USA / HoneyRock)
Winners:
Cat. A Johannes Steinbauer (Germany); Francisco Javier González Compeán (Mexico); Oscar Samuel Esqueda Velázquez (Mexico)
Cat. B Martín Gendelman (Argentina)
Cat. C – NO WINNERS
Cat. D – Stefano Ottomano (Italy)
Cat. E – Bing Yu Hsieh (Taiwan)
Cat. T – Pablo Blanco Cordero (Spain) – Klingelschmitt Florentin (France)

Jury and winners of the PERCUSSIVE ARTS WEB CONTEST (9th Edition)

Jury: Keith Aleo – W. Lee Vinson (USA) – Shiniti Ueno – Nino Masayuki (Japan) – Yao-Te Hsieh – Ling Lu (Taiwan) – Xu Wenjia – Sun Yi (China) – JiHye Jung – Edward Choi (Korea) – Vassilena Serafimova – Nils Rohwer – Antonio Santangelo (Italy).
Winners:
Cat. A / DUO (Percussion solo) Venus Dúo (Venezuela); Duo GdanÌ (Poland); T. Fritzler / M. Yotsumoto (Germany,Japan); Poka Duo (Taiwan); A. Benetti / G. M. Manghi (Italy)
Cat. B / DUO (Percussion & Piano) – No Winners
Cat. C / DUO (Percussion with other instruments) P. Kiss / G. Nagy (Hungary); G. Rispoli / C. M. Sollazzo (Italy)
Cat. D / ENSEMBLE (from 3 to 6 percussionists) Percussion Ensemble (Italy); Percussion Ensemble (Hungary)
Cat. E / ENSEMBLE (from 5 percussionists onwards) Percussion Ensemble Conservatorio “Félix T. Garzón” (Argentina)
Cat. S / ENSEMBLE (for schools) Quartet GdanÌ (Poland)

Jury and winners of the ITALIAN COMPETITION for Percussion Instruments, open to Italian students (1st Edition)
Jury: Saverio Tasca, Ivan Gambino, Stefano Ottomano, Claudio and Antonio Santangelo
Winners:
Cat. A Giosuè Scarponi, Riccardo Manco, Ivan Boaro
Cat. B Gabriele d’Aloia, Giorgia Nina, Giorgia D’Angelo and Lorenzo Ramundi
Cat. C Francesco Lopopolo, Giorgia D’Angelo, Christian Di Capua and Alessandro Ruggiero.