About us

He has been artistic director of the Fondazione Rossini of Pesaro since 1971, where he arranged and supervised The Critical Edition of Rossini's Works.  He was Artistic Director of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana on two occasions - from 1978 to 1981 and from 1986 to 1988 - and of the Teatro dell'Opera of Rome from 1987 to 1990. From 1990 to 1999, he was President-Superintendent of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, for which position he was re-elected in 2003 and re-confirmed by a large majority in the 2007 and 2011 elections. He has also directed numerous festivals, including the Festival Barocco of Viterbo and the Festival Verdiano held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi's death.
Cagli is the author of numerous texts and scripts which have been published in periodicals specializing in the field of the performing arts (for instance, "Sipario") and staged in various theatres (such as the Piccolo Eliseo, Rome; the Gobetti, Turin; and the Pedrotti, Pesaro). He has also written three operatic librettos - two for Paolo Renosto, and one for Le notti bianche di Franco Mannino (Franco Mannino's Sleepless Nights), which have been performed not only in Italy but also in France and Russia. He has also worked as scriptwriter and author for radio, television and cinema (Mario Monicelli's Rossini, to cite one example).
In 1981, Cagli was awarded the Premio Italia for his radio melodrama Una vendetta in musica (A Musical Vendetta), for which he wrote both text and music. He is a member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, of Arcadia, of the Istituto di Studi Romani, the Accademia Filarmonica Romana and the Accademia Raffaello of Urbino. Awarded the Gold Medal for cultural services, he is currently president of the Istituto Italiano per la Storia della Musica.
As an academic, in addition to several literary works and a volume of poetry chosen by Leonardo Sciascia for his collection of select editions, Cagli has specialized in the study of 18th and 19th century Italian and French opera. At present, he is editing the new edition of The Letters and Papers of Rossini, of which the first three volumes have already been published and a fourth is being printed. He is Director of the Bulletin of the Centro Rossiniano di Studi.