Venues 2025

Arrigo Boito Conservatoire of Music

Strada del Conservatorio 27/a – Parma

Founded in 1888 in the former convent of the Carmine and dedicated to Arrigo Boito, the Conservatorio has its origins in the Music school established by Marie Louise of Austria in 1819 and enlarged in 1825, where students could learn how to play an instrument: violin, oboe, flatus, double bass, clarion and bassoon, piano and composition, cello, horn, trumpet and trombone. Among the students who attended the school, it is worth to remember: composer and orchestra conductor Giovanni Bolzoni (1841-1919), conductor Cleofonte Campanini (1860-1919), the great conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) and Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968).The Music Library of the Conservatorio, created in 1889, is a specialized section of the Palatine library. Among its funds are kept: the music archive of the R. School of Music; music archive of the Bourbon-Parma family; music archive of Marie Louise of Austria; music books and music literature from funds of the Palatine Library (among them the Libro di Vihuela by Luis Milan, the Fronimo by Galilei); music archive of the Earl Stefano Sanvitale. The palace, of remarkable architecture, is made from a former convent, with a cloister that is worth a visit.

Paganini Auditorium

Viale Barilla 27/A, Parma

The Sound Factory in the Heart of Greenery

Designed by Renzo Piano and inaugurated in 2001, the Paganini Auditorium is today one of the key symbols of Parma’s cultural and architectural renaissance. Born from the transformation of the former Eridania sugar refinery, the space has been reinvented as a modern “sound factory,” wherearchitecture and nature blend in perfect harmony. Since 2015, it has hosted the symphonic season of the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic. The building preserves its original industrial structure: a centralbody 80 meters long with steel trusses, the former maintenance workshop, and a distinctive 45-meter smokestack. These historic elements have been reinterpreted to house the concert hall, rehearsal room, foyer, and technical areas, arranged over several levels connected by a strikingstaircase.

The main hall seats 780 guests on a gently sloped single-level floor to ensure optimal visibility. Large glass walls at either end establish a direct visual connection with the surrounding Parco della Musica, eliminating the boundary between interior and exterior and immersing the audience in aunique experience of music and nature. The acoustics, meticulously designed, transform the hall into a grand resonating chamber: glass and wood panels evenly distribute sound, the ceiling reflectsand absorbs sound waves, and the glazed walls feature strategically oriented reflective panels.

The Auditorium is part of the Paganini Congressi complex, an urban regeneration project that hasrevitalized an entire early 20th-century industrial area. Nestled in a 12-hectare park in the heart of the city, the center also includes CPM Toscanini, the Underground Spaces, and the Parco della Musica. Founded in 2015 through a collaboration between the Fondazione Teatro Regio and the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, Paganini Congressi offers versatile spaces for events, conferences, concerts, training activities, and multimedia productions. Its multipurpose rooms and fully equippedvenues provide the ideal setting for any event, combining functionality with architectural elegance.