On June 4, at the UN Headquarters in New York, the multimedia event “The Music and Screen of Italian Cinema” marks a crowning milestone of the PNRR project led by the Palermo Conservatory. This immersive journey of music and innovation places the Southern Italian Higher Education (AFAM) system on the global stage of international diplomacy.

NEW YORK – The sound of legendary Italian cinema returns to the heart of international relations for an occasion of exceptional symbolic value. On June 4, 2026, the United Nations Headquarters in New York will host the multimedia concert “The Music and Screen of Italian Cinema,” promoted by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations. The event celebrates the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Italian Republic, a milestone marking eight decades of democracy, freedom, and national cohesion, reaffirming the constitutional values that position Italy as a leader in international dialogue today. The initiative also serves as a final, prestigious appointment for the European project MUSIC4D.

The performance is designed as a sensory journey through the most iconic soundtracks of Italian cinema, with a particular focus on works set in Southern Italy and Sicily. The stage will feature the MUSIC4D Orchestra, an elite ensemble of young talents from the Conservatories of Sicily and Sardinia, conducted by M° Michelangelo Galeati. The orchestra will be joined by the voice of tenor Fabio Brundu, a student from the “Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina” Conservatory of Cagliari, highlighting the collaborative synergy between the network’s diverse institutions.

The musical program features original arrangements of timeless masterpieces by Nino Rota (The Leopard), Ennio Morricone (Cinema Paradiso, Malèna), Alessandro Cicognini (It Started in Naples), and Lele Marchitelli (There’s Still Tomorrow). Live music will interact in real-time with synchronized video projections of specially edited film excerpts, creating an immersive experience that fuses collective memory with technological innovation.

Regarding the project’s impact, Fabio Crescente, Scientific Coordinator of MUSIC4D and performer on double bass, stated: “This event at the Glass Palace represents the culmination of an extraordinary journey of research and production. Bringing the excellence of the AFAM system and Italian technological innovation to the center of global diplomacy is tangible proof that the culture of the Mezzogiorno is not merely a custodian of the past, but a strategic and contemporary asset capable of competing in the global creative industries market. With MUSIC4D, we have built a model that places talent at the service of innovation, and New York is the ideal setting to consecrate this success.”

“The Music and Screen of Italian Cinema” is an integral part of MUSIC4D, funded by the Ministry of University and Research under the PNRR – Next Generation EU program. Led by the “Alessandro Scarlatti” Conservatory of Music in Palermo, this massive project unites all the Conservatories of Sicily and Sardinia in collaboration with the University of Palermo and the University of Calabria, with the goal of charting new paths for the integration of cultural heritage and digital technologies.Following its triumph at New York’s Carnegie Hall last December, and prestigious stops in Los Angeles and the Palais des Nations in Geneva, MUSIC4D now arrives at the UN Headquarters. This milestone reaffirms the universal value of Italian art as a powerful language of cooperation and understanding between nations, capable of transcending borders through the generative power of beauty.