Matteo Prefumo in the finals at the International Songwriting Competition in the USA

On March 20th, the Jazz guitarist and composer Matteo Prefumo from Genoa entered the FINALS in the UNITED STATES at the INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING COMPETITION in the INSTRUMENTAL category, selected among 15,000 participants.

This is considered one of the most prestigious awards in the world, divided by genres, and the jury is composed of some of the most important musicians in today’s music industry, such as Jack Dejohnette, Danilo Perez, Coldplay, Mariah Carey to name a few.

Matteo Prefumo is the only guitarist from the Italian scene to reach the finals of this prestigious competition and the first musician from Liguria to achieve this feat.

For this occasion, the Genoese musician presented his new single “A NEW BEGINNING,” a self-produced song released on July 22nd, recorded with some of the most prominent young jazz musicians of the current jazz scene: Tony Tixier on piano, Josh Ginsburg on double bass, and Francesco Ciniglio on drums.

Two Grammy Award winners were also involved in the post-production: Rich Breen and Ted Jensen. Previous editions of the award were won by musicians such as Thana Alexa, Will Vinson, Jazzmeia Horn, Omar Sosa, Pete Levin.

“It is a great honor for me to have reached the finals of this competition, and what pleases me even more is knowing that on the other side, judging the competition, there are musicians whom I have adored since I was a child: Jack Dejohnette, who is an absolute idol to me, and Danilo Perez, who is one of my favorite pianists at present,” – explains Matteo – “A NEW BEGINNING is a single in which I have believed from the very beginning and to which I am very attached. All this would not have been possible without the participation of the other three musicians who played with me during the recording”.

The company managing the competition has created a parallel award accessible only to the finalists called PEOPLE’S VOICE, where people from around the world can vote. In this case, Matteo Prefumo can be voted for within the Instrumental category.

The single has already been broadcasted on many international jazz radios such as JAZZ FM in the United Kingdom, MVFM in Australia, 88.5 WMNF in the United States, and many other NPR and American college radio stations. It has accumulated approximately  listens on social media channels.