Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Founded in 1908, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia was the first Italian orchestra to dedicate itself exclusively to the symphonic repertoire. From the outset, such prominent composers as Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss, and Igor Stravinsky sought to work with the orchestra, which premiered Ottorino Respighi’s tone poems Fontane di Roma and Pini di Roma. Star conductors like Arturo Toscanini, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Victor de Sabata, and Herbert von Karajan also soon appeared on the podium. From 1983 to 1990, Leonard Bernstein served as Honorary President, and Giuseppe Sinopoli, Daniele Gatti, and Myung-Whun Chung, among others, were active as Principal Conductors. Sir Antonio Pappano was Music Director from 2005 to 2023; Daniel Harding has held the position since 2024. In 2002, the orchestra took up residence in the Parco della Musica in Rome, built by Renzo Piano. In addition to their concert season in Rome, the musicians make guest appearances all over the world. They have performed at the Salzburg Festival and the BBC Proms and have appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Led by Harding, they completed two European tours in the 2024-25 season, including their first appearance in Poland. The orchestra has received such international distinctions as the Gramophone Award, the Classical Brit Award, the Diapason d’or, and the Echo Klassik. In the fall of 2024, it released an account of Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony conducted by Pappano.

Lucerne Festival debut on 9 September 2009, when Diego Matheuz conducted works by Rossini, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky.

March 2025