The Board of Directors of the Walter Stauffer Foundation of Cremona has announced that Paolo Petrocelli will be the new General Director of the Walter Stauffer Academy starting on Dec. 1, 2020.

Petrocelli is the founder and President of EMMA for Peace, Co-founder of the Italian Youth Association for UNESCO, Cultural and Diplomacy Officer for the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, and Music Expert of the Italian National Commission for UNESCO. He is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Rome Opera House, Accademia Musicale Chigiana of Siena and Conservatory of Music of Venice, Advisor at Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman and Associate Director at IMG Artists.

“I am honored to serve as Director-General and I am looking forward to undertaking this new role and challenge with the utmost commitment,” Petrocelli said in a press release. “The objective is clear and well-focused: we want to strengthen and expand all activities of the Academy to make it more and more one of the most advanced international music centers for strings, a point of reference for artistic and cultural excellence. in Italy, in Europe, and in the world. With an ambitious multi-year development plan, we will create an innovative global platform dedicated to offering the finest higher music education programs to the most talented musicians, projecting into the future the great tradition of the Italian strings school and the extraordinary cultural heritage of the city of Cremona, the world lutherie capital.”

The Stauffer Academy was founded in 1985 as a private institution recognized internationally for its program of higher music education for strings.