The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world. Officially founded in 1585, it has evolved over the centuries from an organization of largely “local” musicians to a modern academy and symphonic concert organization of international repute. Uniting an academic body of 100 of the most illustrious exponents of culture and music with a symphonic orchestra and chorus that are among the most internationally renowned, the Accademia carries out professional musical training and conserves an extremely rich historical patrimony, thus reflecting its own multi-century history.
In May of 1585, Pope Sixtus V published the bull “Ratione congruit”, the act officially founding the Congregazione dei Musici sotto l’invocazione della Beata Vergine e dei Santi Gregorio e Cecilia (The Congregation of Musicians under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, Saint Gregory and Saint Cecilia), linking the Virgin with the two patron saints of music par excellence. Gregory the Great is traditionally credited with instituting ecclesiastical song – known as Gregorian chant – and Cecilia was the late Medieval virgin martyr gradually substituted for David in the role of patron of music.