On the May Day stage, Noemi Cainero and Bambina Cesario

27 April , 2026

On stage at the May Day Concert in Rome, our students Noemi Cainero and Bambina Cesario.

Two Saint Louis students, Noemi Cainero and Bambina Cesario, won a spot on the stage at the May Day Concert in Rome.

Noemi Cainero, graduate student in Pop Singing I level, and Bambina Cesario, a graduate student in Songwriting II level, are two of the three artists selected by 1MNext, the contest for emerging artists organized by iCompany, which each year identifies the most interesting voices on the Italian scene to bring them in front of hundreds of thousands of people. A result that weighs, considering that the selection started from 1,700 applications.

The path was not easy.“The 1MNext is not an easy contest,” Noemi says,“also because we find talented kids everywhere nowadays.”

The numbers confirm the difficulty: 1,700 proposals received, 120 semifinalists, 12 finalists, 3 winners.

Bambina knows that progression well, having pursued it tenaciously.“I had been sending in my application for 1MNext for years,” she admits,“and finally this year I was lucky enough to be chosen.”

Noemi Cainero e Bambina Cesario, allieve Saint Louis, sul palco del concertone del primo maggio a Roma

Selections and winning the 1MNext 2026 contest.

The audition stage among the 12 finalists is the one Noemi remembers most fondly. The selections were held at the Mob, in an unusual format for a competition. “It was as if you were recording your own song together with your band, with no pressure. You felt almost at home, or during a day of session“. The judges watched from the control room with the sound engineers, evaluating the candidates one by one. She brought “Nuntannamurà,” the same song that had accompanied her at Sanremo Giovani, plus “Male” as her second choice.

Instead, Bambina chose “Dove vuoi,” the single that opens her debut EP “Siamo soli,” released on Jan. 30.“To think that only two months after the release of the record I will be playing on the May Day stage fills me with joy,” she says,“and it is a great satisfaction for me and my band, who have worked so hard and believed so strongly in this first EP.”

Then came the moment of truth. The judges brought the 12 finalists together to announce the three names. Noemi remembers it with photographic precision:“As soon as I heard my name, I burst into tears with happiness and immediately called my parents, my family and my management.” Her first thought went to her grandmother, who passed away two years ago. “She who taught me how to sing and how to devote myself to music. Since she is gone, my work is taking the right path, as if she is behind it all, directing me.”.

Bambina, on the other hand, learned the news in a bar, together with a friend.“I couldn’t contain myself and having him near me was precious, we rejoiced together.” Then the phone calls to the band and family, her two mainstays.

On the May Day stage.

On stage, Bambina will bring “Dove vuoi,” a song written together with her band.“Going on the May Day stage with a piece that is the result of teamwork is a source of pride for me and makes me feel even more fortunate than the people I am surrounded by artistically and humanely.”

Noemi looks at the concert with the same intensity as she looks at the journey so far. “For me to play on that stage is also a huge satisfaction for all the sacrifices I have been making for almost seven years. This is a positive sign, it means that my music is being liked and I need to keep it up. Victories are not an achievement, but they are part of the journey and thus part of artistic growth.”.

There is fear, of course. Noemi does not hide it,“It scares me a little, but it is that good fear, of a girl who believes in her dreams, and sees that they are slowly coming true.” Bambina broadens her perspective and thinks about who will come next:“I hope to send a message of hope to many other emerging artists who, like me, have started out completely on their own: with passion, hard work and commitment, dreams can come true.”

May Day, for both of them, is not an end point. It is the point from which everything starts again.

Noemi Cainero and Bambina Cesario will perform on the May Day stage in Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome at the opening of the Concert around h 2:00 pm.