About Us

Under the Toscanini name Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region offers its musical tradition worldwide

The Fondazione Arturo Toscanini is a musical organization based in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy that operates with the support of the Ministry for Arts and Culture. It was founded in 1994 on the initiative of the Emilia-Romagna region and the municipality and province of Parma and embodies the natural evolution of the association of the same name founded in 1975 by a group of municipalities and provinces in Emilia-Romagna.

Today, it is one of the leading and most dynamic musical organizations on the Italian scene, active in the areas of symphonic concerts, opera productions and training of young musicians through its specifically-designed project—Educational—created together with numerous public bodies in the region.

The foundation bears the name of Arturo Toscanini in honor of the artistic legacy and tradition of performance excellence that has its home in Parma, the birthplace of this great orchestra conductor. Following a period of concerted growth both in terms of productive capacity and artistic merit, the foundation currently offers an active organizational infrastructure that allows it to produce an average of 100 symphonic concerts and 50 opera performances each year.

It was recently the recipient of a major honor from Eurispes, the institute of political, economic and social studies, which included it in its list of the top 100 Italian success stories. The Fondazione Toscanini is one of just three musical organizations included in the “3rd Report of the top 100 Italian Enterprises of Excellence”.

In fulfilling its annual programming, the foundation utilizes two different artistic entities: the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, which offers the great symphonic repertory in collaboration with world-renowned soloists and conductors, and the Orchestra Regionale dell’Emilia-Romagna, active in regional and educational concert activity and opera productions.

The foundation currently manages the music and ballet seasons of the Teatro Municipale in Piacenza and organizes major concert events at the Auditorium Paganini in Parma. Its orchestras appear in leading theaters regionally and nationally throughout Italy and also perform in extensive tours abroad. Its opera productions, the work of renowned set designers such as Franco Zeffirelli and Pier Luigi Pizzi, host top international artists. The foundation also collaborates with leading Italian and foreign opera houses in co-productions.

Its financial backers include some of the leading public entities in the Emilia-Romagna region (many of which directly host its activity) and it has also recently begun collaboration with a number of private sector bodies, such as banking foundations, in conformity with recent changes in national legislation regarding musical organizations.

The Fondazione Arturo Toscanini operates with the financial support of the Ministry for Arts and Culture which recognizes it as a national Istituzione Concertistico Orchestrale (ICO) of the Emilia-Romagna region and ARCUS SpA.