Testimonials
Cremona International Music Academy and Festival is pleased to be recognized by such esteemed leaders of the City of Cremona.
Mayor of Cremona
Gianluca Galimberti
Welcome from Mayor of Cremona, Gianluca Galimberti
As Mayor of Cremona, I am very proud and happy to welcome the 2020 Cremona International Music Academy to our medieval town. Music has always played an important role in our town going back as far as the 16th Century, when Claudio Monteverdi was born and worked here, and 17th Century, when legendary Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri made Cremona the Capital of Violin making of the world. The wonderful tradition of music and violin making continues to the present time. Cremona is a home of the so important district of liuthery, of the world-famous Stradivari Museum with its unique Auditorium, professional music conservatories and youth music schools, and the home of over 150 luthiers who continue tradition of great Cremonese violin making.
We are looking forward again to host this remarkable Music Academy, with its renowned Professors, their talented Students and many Visitors from all around the world, from near and far. Ten years ago, the Cremona International Music Academy and Festival has opened a new chapter in the history of our town and is turning into one of the most important music festivals in Italy. I am also looking forward to the opportunity to offer participants and guests to explore our local tourism, introducing our beautiful Ct;remona and Lombardian region, its culture, wonderful museums and churches, our luthiers, specialty shops and unique Cremonese cuisine to many new visitors.
On behalf of the citizens of Cremona I congratulate Cremona International Academy with its 1oth Season in Cremona and wish the Academy another wonderful season, much success, and to all its participants new experiences, wonderful memories and a good time in our town, as well as the enjoyment and appreciation of one of the most beautiful things in the world: music making.
I look forward to seeing and greeting you all in Cremona!
Click here to see Mayor Gianluca Galimberti’s complete letter.
Gian Domenico Auricchio
Presidente, Camera di Commercio
lndustria Artigianato e Agricoltura Cremona
It is with a great pleasure and much excitement that I want to welcome the 2020 Cremona International Music Academy to our wonderful city of Cremona!
Cremona is known around the world not only as a Capital of Violin Making but also as most important Italian Agriculture and C01mnerce Center. Thousands of tourists visiting Cremona every year to take part in various conferences and exhibitions, experience the beauty of Cremonese architecture, the elegance of some of the most beautiful piazzas in Northern Italy, exploring Cremona’s specialty shops, visiting its unique violin makers workshops and tasting typical food products.
This is not just an economic issue: our products represent an important element in our history and culture and contribute, together with numerous works of art and musical craftsmanship, to making this area unique, awaiting the discovery and appreciation of visitors. Cremona with the surrounding area represents “A place to Play”, where it is possible to perform everywhere.
I am proud that since its first season in 2011, Cremona Academy established close contact and collaboration with Cremona Chamber of Commerce and its members, including Consorzio Liutai “Antonio Stradivari”. We are happy that the Academy is based at the Chamber of Commerce and performs in some of the most beautiful halls and palaces in Cremona and Lombardy Region, including picturesque medieval town of Crema.
We are extremely happy to welcome Cremona International Music Academy once again! On behalf of Cremona Chamber of Commerce and its members I would like to express warmest greetings to the Academy, its great professors, students, families and guests and wishing them another wonderful season in Cremona and Lombardy!
Click here to see Presidente Gian Delmonico Auricchio’s complete letter.
Paolo Bodini
CEO Museo del Violino
President “Friends of Stradivari”
Ten years is certainly a long period of time but it seems to have passed in a flash. I well remember my first meeting with Mark Lakirovich who explained to me his previous experience in Regensburg and his idea of developing in Cremona a summertime music academy, to bring young musicians and teaching staff to the city ofviolins, to the home of Stradivari, to this city iconic for music.
It was the spring of 2010 and Mark’s idea fascinated me immediately in spite of some concerns on the logistics of its implementation in Cremona, not least because the city was not then prepared for this kind of residential activity. However, the opportunity was too good to let go.
Thanks are due firstly to the Chamber of Commerce, whose operative right-hand, the indomitable flaria Casadei, right from the start believed in the project as I did; to the Monteverdi Conservatorium, which, with no little effort, put at our disposal their space and decided to join us in this risky venture. Crucially, the Commune of Cremona never stinted its essential collaboration.
The success of the Cremona Academy was evident right from its very first edition and the conditions for an organizational surge in successive editions were quickly established. This resulted in an increase not only in participant numbers but also and above all in an improvement in technical and artistic quality.
Furthermore, the Cremona Academy has also been the stimulus and the foundation stone for other constantly growing initiatives, coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce in the Cremona Summer Festival, which sees thousands of musicians performing in Cremona every year to inspire and animate our city during many months of the year.
Our well known Cremona Violin Museum could not fail to be a part of this “music feast” and gladly contributes to the Cremona Academy by hosting in its splendid Auditorium Arvedi the most important concerts of this rich and vivid enterprise.
Therefore many thanks to all who have collaborated to the success of this 10th anniversary and particularly to Mark Lakirovich and his staff for having believed in Cremona’s potential and having created a genuine level of international recognition which both honours our city and enhances its value.
A final wish is that this road might be followed for many years to come: to this end the entire community of Cremona, I believe, wants to commit itself to continuous improvement in its organizational capacities and accommodating facilities.
Happy birthday, Cremona Academy!
Click here to see Presidente Paolo Bodini’s complete letter.