Silvia Bolognesi is the new Artistic and Educational Director of the Academy.

17 October 2025 | Academy

With the start of the 2025/2026 academic year, Siena Jazz – Accademia Nazionale del Jazz is pleased to announce an important turning point in its history: Silvia Bolognesi assumes the role of Artistic and Teaching Director, becoming the first woman to hold this position within the institution.

An appointment that represents not just a change of leadership, but a real signal of openness, renewal and commitment to gender equality, inclusion, contemporaneity and the enhancement of new musical languages.

An internationally recognized composer, double bassist and teacher, Silvia Bolognesi brings to the Academy a powerful, plural artistic vision that is deeply rooted in the present, capable of dialoguing with new generations and reinforcing Siena Jazz’s role as an avant-garde laboratory in music education.

Heartfelt thanks go to Francesco Bigoni, who guided the artistic and educational journey of the past year with sensitivity and dedication. His resignation, due to personal reasons, leaves the baton to a figure who will know how to continue the path traced with energy and vision.

The Academic Year 2025/2026 also opens under the banner of innovation from an infrastructural and digital point of view: a complete renovation of the Academy’s classrooms is underway, with a focus on the acoustic quality of teaching spaces.

Tradition and experimentation, study and collective creativity: the direction of Silvia Bolognesi is part of a path consistent with the vocation of Siena Jazz, which has always been a point of reference for high-level artistic training and a cultural engine capable of anticipating the languages and transformations of the international music scene.