Artistic director for the 2017 Sanremo Music Festival, Carlo Conti has announced that 60 artists will compete for six spots in the new talents category, while 20 established artists will perform on the first evening followed by voting from press corps and the public.
The festival's music commission, made up of television journalist Gianmaurizio Foderaro, actress and television host Carolina Di Domenico, guitarist and conductor Pinuccio Pirazzoli, and DJ Ema Stokholma, chose the 60 newcomer competitors from among 572 submissions, several of whom have previously participated in Italian talent shows.
Six were on 'Amici', hosted by Maria De Filippi: Chiara Grispo, Lele Esposito, La Rua, Gerardo Pulli (who won the 2012 edition of 'Amici'), Luca Tudisca, Enrico Nigiotti (who competed in the new talents category at Sanremo in 2015) and Martha Rossi.
Four others - Cristiano Turrini, Dylan Magon, Noemi Smorra, and Francesco Guasti - starred on 'The Voice of Italy'.
Other notable newcomers include turquoise-haired DJ and singer Ketty Passa; Riky Anelli, who participated in the 2001 festival, and Marianne Mirage.
All 60 tracks in the newcomers category have been released on the festival's website.
Live auditions for the 60 competitors will be held in Rome on October 25, from which 12 will be selected to continue on to the second stage competition called 'Sarà Sanremo'.
From there, six finalists will be chosen to compete in February at the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo, together with two other artists from the 'Area Sanremo' preliminary competition.
With ANSA
