At the Quirinale, the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano awards Maestro Franco Scala, 06.24.2014

The Founder and Director

Maestro Franco Scala

Maestro Franco Scala was born in Imola, he graduated at the G.B. Martini Conservatory in Bologna with Maestro Gherardo Mecarini Carmignani, a former pupil of Alfredo Casella, and continued his studies at the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome with Maestro Carlo Zecchi.

After an intense concert activity, both in Italy and abroad, he dedicated himself to teaching. He had been a teacher for 30 years at the “Gioacchino Rossini” Conservatory in Pesaro, where he stood out for the innovative features of his teaching aimed at tackling the monographic works for piano repertoire. Thanks to this activity he was repeatedly invited, with his class of young pianists, to various Italian conservatories. Franco Scala holds advanced courses both in Italy and abroad and he is invited to be part of the juries at the most important competitions.

Many of his students won some of the most prestigious international competitions (“Franz Liszt” Utrecht; “Arthur Rubinstein” Tel Aviv; “Van Cliburn” Fort Worth, Texas; “Ferruccio Busoni” Bolzano; “GPA” Dublin; “Franz Schubert” Dortmund; Prix d’Honneur “Santander” Spain, etc.).

He is founder and director of the Imola International Academy “Incontri col Maestro” as well as the founder of the International Festival for Piano Interpretation “From Bach to Bartók”.
On June 24, 2014, Franco Scala received the “President of the Republic” Award by the Head of State, Giorgio Napolitano, for artistic excellence of his Academy in Imola. In 2017 he received the career “Vendome Award” by the Swiss Orpheus Foundation.