Paolo Petrocelli

Paolo Petrocelli, PhD-EMBA-FRSA, is a senior performing arts manager driven by the belief that culture, arts and education are a major force for growth, development and change globally. A passionate, innovative and dynamic manager with an extensive experience in leadership positions in a variety of organizational settings, he is an international relations and global cultural affairs expert.

As a music diplomacy ambassador, he serves in institutional roles to forge bonds through music in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the US. Petrocelli is the Founder and President of EMMA for Peace (Euro-Mediterranean Music Academy for Peace) and the Co-Founder and Director of Institutional Relations & International Affairs of Opera for Peace – Leading Young Voices of the World. He serves as Cultural and Music Diplomacy Officer for the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and Cultural Advisor to Coldplay, the multi Grammy award-winning British band.

In 2014, he has been appointed as one of the youngest members ever elected to the Board of Directors of Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Rome Opera House). Today, he serves on numerous Board of Directors, including Opera Lebanon (Beirut, Lebanon), the Italian Association for Cultural Economics and Accademia Musicale Jacopo Napoli (Cava de’ Tirreni, Italy). He is Honorary Board Member of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra.

Former Associate Director at IMG Artists and Advisor for International Development and Special Projects at Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman, he currently serves as Assistant to the Superintendent for international development and external relations of Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Advisor for External Relations and Fundraising at Fondazione Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Head of International Development and Projects at Festival Pianistico Internazionale di Brescia e Bergamo and Artistic Director of the Festival Filarmonica Orchestra, Director of International Projects at Oregon Music Festival (USA) Cultural and PR Advisor at the Amman Opera Festival (Jordan), Senior Advisor International Development at Accademia Costume e Moda.

He is the Lead for Italy of Sound Diplomacy, the leading global consultancy advising cities, governments, tourism boards and large organizations on music and night time economy policy.

He is a Research Affiliate at the metaLAB (at) Harvard, an experimental research unit dedicated to innovation in the arts, media and humanities at Harvard University. He has been a Yale University Visiting Fellow (2011-2012) and a Visiting Researcher at MIT Media Lab (2016), the interdisciplinary research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts). He served  as Director of the Master of Cultural Management at the Rome Business School.

He is a Member of the Italian Order of Journalists, a contributor for Forbes and Huffington Post and a TEDx Speaker. Petrocelli is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts and an Official Member of Forbes Nonprofit Council.