Conservatorio Arrigo Boito

History

The first school of music in the city of Parma was the Regia Scuola di Canto; a school founded in 1769 with the purpose of training vocalists attached to the Teatro Ducale opera house. It was housed at the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine. The school was operated by Francesco Z. Poncini, the organist of the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata, until it closed in 1792.

The city was without a music school until the Parma Conservatory was established with the financial backing and political will of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the wife of Napoleon; also under the name Regia Scuola di Canto. The school was originally housed at the Chiesa di San Ludovico and was initially established as another school for singing in 1819 with the purpose of providing trained choristers to sing at the Teatro Ducale and the Chiesa di San Ludovico. In 1825 the school was expanded into a conservatory, but did not provide instruction in instrumental music until 1840. Later additional studies in composition, conducting, and other music topics were added and by 1859 the full offering of the canon of studies in music was established.

The Parma Conservatory was originally only open to men. A separate school of music for women was established in the city in 1833, and in 1855 that school merged with the Parma Conservatory to create a co-education institution known as the Regia Scuola di Musica. Composer and conductor Giovanni Rossi was director of the conservatory from 1864 through 1874. In 1888 the Parma Conservatory became a public institution operated by the Government of Italy; joining the three other state run music conservatories at that time: the Milan Conservatory, the Naples Conservatory and the Palermo Conservatory.

The composer Arrigo Boito succeeded Giovanni Bottesini as director of the Parma Conservatory in 1889; serving in that post until 1897. The conservatory's name was changed to the Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito in honor of the composer in 1919.

The conservatory has housed the Premio Mario Zanfi, an international piano competition also known in English as the Franz Liszt Competition, since 1981.