a musical institution of the Emilia-Romagna Region operating with the support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. Established in 1994 on the initiative of the Region itself, the Municipality, and the Province of Parma, it represents the natural evolution of the homonymous Association established in 1975 by the Municipalities and Provinces of Emilia-Romagna and recognised by the State in January 1977.

Today, one of Italy’s largest and most dynamic musical institutions, active in the fields of symphonic and opera production, as well as professional training for young people in the performing arts and arts education, the Foundation bears the name of Arturo Toscanini, in recognition of his artistic legacy and outstanding performance tradition. It is based in Parma, the birthplace of the great conductor. Currently, after a period of constant artistic and productive growth, the company has established an operational scale and organisational structure that allows it to present over 100 symphonic concerts and 40 operas annually.

For the realisation of its programmes, the Foundation operates two different artistic ensembles, active on an annual basis: the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini (Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra), performing symphonic repertoire with major international soloists and conductors; and the Orchestra dell’Emilia-Romagna Arturo Toscanini (Arturo Toscanini Orchestra of Emilia-Romagna), which acts both in regional and educational concert activity and in opera productions.

Its orchestras perform at major regional and national theatres and hold important international tours. Its past opera productions, led by renowned directors such as Franco Zeffirelli and Pier Luigi Pizzi, have featured the finest artists and have been staged in many important Italian cities as well as abroad. Furthermore, the Foundation collaborates (in terms of production) with some of the most prestigious theatres in Italy and abroad.

Its membership includes some of Emilia-Romagna’s biggest public bodies (many of which are home to its activities) and has gradually been extended to numerous private entities (such as the Parma banking foundations), according to the most recent national legislation pertaining to the organisation of musical bodies.

Arturo Toscanini Foundation is supported by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (which recognises the Foundation as a national concert orchestral institution), the Emilia-Romagna Region and a number of public and private organisations, including Cepim spa, its institutional partner.

As of January 2017, it moved to its new, multifunctional venue: the Centro di Produzione Musicale “Arturo Toscanini” (Arturo Toscanini Music Production Centre), located within the Parco Eridania in Parma, a few metres from the Auditorium Paganini, where concerts are held. The Centre, which features two large rehearsal rooms, five studios, a conference room, office and storage space, can host conferences. Furthermore, it contains the Sala Ipogea, which seats 350 people and is directly connected to the Auditorium.

The Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in Parma in 2002 as a continuation of the historic Arturo Toscanini Orchestra of Emilia-Romagna. Today it is considered among the most important Italian symphony orchestras.

Inspired by Arturo Toscanini’s values – rigour, talent, artistry, and commitment – the orchestra’s work is characterised by a continuous search for quality, from classical to contemporary repertoire, from chamber ensembles to great symphonies.

Over the years, Enrico Onofri (2020-2024) and Alpesh Chauhan (2017-2020) have held the position of Principal Conductor. However, before them, Kazushi Ono (2012-2015), Francesco Lanzillotta (2015-2017) and Kristjan Jarvi (2021-2023) held the position of Principal Guest Conductor, respectively. Omer Meir Wellber was Music Director of the Toscanini Festival. The latter was a musical project (for the 2022 and 2023 editions) centred on Arturo Toscanini as an individual and his historical-artistic legacy.

Throughout its history, the Arturo Toscanini Philarmonic Orchestra has been led by some of the most distinguished musicians who have marked the history of conducting, such as Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Georges Prêtre, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Charles Dutoit, Yuri Temirkanov and Jeffrey Tate, and the most important conductors on the international scene, such as Fabio Luisi, Vladimir Jurowski, James Conlon, Juraj Valčuha, Trevor Pinnock, Roberto Abbado, Tugan Sokhiev, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Christophe Rousset, Fabio Biondi, Wayne Marshall and Tan Dun. Today, it is regularly led by some of the most acclaimed conductors of recent years and some of the most promising young members of the Italian conducting school: Michele Mariotti, Daniele Rustioni, Antonino Fogliani, Riccardo Frizza, Michele Spotti, Alessandro Bonato and Diego Ceretta.

Furthermore, there have been numerous collaborations with prestigious soloists. These include Mischa Maisky, Ivo Pogorelich, Viktoria Mullova, Gil Shaham, Steven Isserlis, Ton Koopman, Krystian Zimerman, Ian Bostridge, Mario Brunello, Salvatore Accardo, Placido Domingo, Juan Diego Flórez, Natalia Gutman, Ray Chen, Stefano Bollani, Carolin Widmann, Valeriy Sokolov, Pablo Ferrandez, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Nicola Benedetti and Maxim Vengerov.

The Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra has been acclaimed by audiences and critics in major concert halls around the world, including cities such as Washington, New York, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Hamburg, Moscow, Bucharest, Warsaw, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Beijing. The Philharmonic Orchestra resumed international touring in Algiers in 2022, and played a leading role in Dresden. It was the only Italian orchestra to perform at the 2023 Dresdner Musikfestspiele, one of Europe’s most prestigious festivals.

This orchestra performs regularly in Parma (in the Auditorium Paganini, designed by Renzo Piano) and is a leader of the opera and symphonic seasons of traditional Theatres in Emilia-Romagna, as well as significant concert programmes throughout the region.

Since 2012 the Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra has been a partner of the Festival Verdi di Parma, an artistic association in the name of two illustrious Parma musicians, Verdi and Toscanini.

Institutional website Fondazione Toscanini