Panamanians to study in Rome

Two young Panamanian musicians will leave for Rome after winning scholarships to study at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, an artistic institution with a history that dates back to 1565.

Daniel Gálvez (viola), Benjamín Concepción (percussion) and Francisco Rodríguez (French horn), were chosen after participating in auditions last month, said the National Institute of Culture (Inac) . The criterias were  technical execution and the projection on stage of the applicants. This was the fourth audition taken place in Panama where 20 young Panamanian instrumentalists participated. in order to win a place to  study in Rome.


The scholarships will cover classes between two and three years at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, starting in November 2018. "The candidates had to be Panamanians, between 18 and 28 years old and be able to execute a piece that demonstrates an advanced technical level of execution.

The jury include  two Italians, the director of the conservatory, Roberto Guiliani , teacher Riccardo Ricciardi and Panamanian musician, Dino Nugent .

The link Panama and the Santa Cecilia Conservatory was established in 2015 thanks to an agreement reached by the Embassy of Panama in Italy with the veteran Italian Conservatory, the Inac and the Institute for Training and Use of Human Resources.

"Thanks to these scholarships we will have 13 Panamanians studying simultaneously in Rome, an unprecedented success that says a lot about the talent and discipline of our youth," said Fernando Berguido , former ambassador in Italy and creator of this agreement.