Board Retreat
Board Meeting Online
English Language Meeting
Topic: Annual General Meeting
Presentation: Details TBA
Italian Language Meeting
Speaker: Ludovica Punzi, Executive Director – Early Music Seattle
Topic: When in Florence: Adventures in the Italian Music Business
Presentation:
What does it mean to build a career in music in Italy today? In this talk, Ludo Punzi shares personal stories and reflections from years of navigating the Italian music world—especially in Florence, a city where history, tradition, and contemporary creativity constantly intersect. From unexpected collaborations to the realities of producing concerts and cultural projects, the presentation offers an insider’s perspective on how music, entrepreneurship, and cultural heritage meet in modern Italy. Through anecdotes and experiences, the talk explores both the challenges and the surprising opportunities of working in the Italian music ecosystem.
When in Florence: avventure nell’industria musicale italiana
Cosa significa costruire una carriera musicale nell’Italia di oggi? In questo incontro, Ludo Punzi condivide storie e riflessioni nate da anni di esperienza nel mondo musicale italiano—con particolare attenzione a Firenze, una città dove storia, tradizione e creatività contemporanea si incontrano continuamente. Tra collaborazioni inaspettate e le realtà quotidiane dell’organizzazione di concerti e progetti culturali, la presentazione offre uno sguardo dall’interno su come musica, imprenditorialità e patrimonio culturale si intrecciano nell’Italia di oggi. Attraverso aneddoti ed esperienze personali, l’incontro racconta sfide e opportunità del lavorare nel panorama musicale italiano.
About the Speaker:
Ludovica Punzi is a versatile and experienced arts leader, having worked in many different roles in Italy and the United States.She is the Executive Director of Early Music Seattle, a 50 year-old organization which presents the best performers of early music from all around the world. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Vivace Music Foundation, an international organization dedicated to equitable music education opportunities for the world’s most talented youth, and also serves as Program Manager of the St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University. Since 2023 she has served as Executive Director of Early Music Seattle.
Equally at home in concert halls and community spaces, Ludo has worked with The Concert Truck, a non-profit organization which strengthens communities by redefining the concert experience through a mobile concert hall. She has also worked with the Florence and Milan conservatories, where she has led hundreds of chamber music, opera, orchestra and jazz productions and tours in Europe, Dubai and the US.
Ludo earned an academic diploma in piano performance at Mantua Conservatory. She loves podcasts and radio shows and has an uncontrollable passion for rockabilly, jive music and dance. She speaks 4 languages and has an identical twin sister. A tattoo on her left wrist says “vero”, which in Italian stands for “true” and is also her twin sister’s nickname.
No reservation necessary. Come early and bring an antipasto, dolce, or vino to share.
English Language Meeting
Speaker: Allion Salvador, Violin
Topic: Paganini and Locatelli; Two Generations of Masters
Presentation:
TBA
About the Speaker:
Allion Salvador has been described as “a rising star of the Seattle music scene, displaying virtuosity well beyond his years” by Westside Seattle. Since graduating with degrees in Violin Performance and Neurobiology from the University of Washington, demand for him as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician has steadily grown. His teachers include Carol Cole, Ronald Patterson, and David Halen. Allion is the Assistant Concertmaster of the Yakima Symphony, Concertmaster of Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, and a member of Symphony Tacoma and the String Orchestra of the Rockies. He has served as concertmaster of the Seattle Philharmonic, Pierre Monteux Festival Orchestra, University of Washington Symphony, and Sammamish Symphony. He has founded and worked with several vibrant chamber music projects, including the piano trio Andromeda, the modern music-focused Inverted Space Ensemble, Sound Ensemble, and the Parnassus Project. Allion’s interests also extend towards the podium. He is the founding music director of the Seattle Philharmonic Strings, a community orchestra promoting string repertoire of the highest quality. Devoted to education, Allion has coached the University of Washington Symphony, Roosevelt and Issaquah high schools, the Seattle Youth Symphony, and the UW Chamber Music Club.
Gabriella Vagnoli was born in Pisa, Tuscany, home of the famous Leaning Tower. She grew up in a multicultural family thanks to her Brazilian mom and remembers teaching Italian for the first time as a child to her Brazilian cousins. She obtained a Laurea in English and Spanish Language and Literature at the Università degli Studi di Pisa and during her college years spent a year in the University of Reading, UK, studying mainly the works of Shakespeare. After obtaining a Certificate as a Teacher of Italian (DITALS II) at the Università per Stranieri di Siena, she has taught in a full immersion school in Florence, a children's full immersion program in Chicago and a Community College in Illinois.
Tiziana was born and raised in Sardinia, a beautiful Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. She has always been passionate about foreign languages and cultures, and studied French and German at the Scuola Superiore Interpreti e Traduttori in Milan, where she obtained her first Foreign Languages and Interpreter BA degree. She then pursued her MA in English and German Language and Literature at IULM, one of the most prestigious universities in Milan, Italy for Language and Communication studies.
Nicla is a native of Napoli, Italy. She has a Laurea in Materie Letterarie (degree in humanities) and a Laurea in Pedagogia (degree in Education) from the Università degli Studi di Cassino. She earned her M.A in Italian and her PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington. She has published articles and book chapters on gender and theater as well as politics and religion in Counter-Reformation Italy and in the last years, has been teaching Italian literature, language, and culture in different institutions. In addition to teaching in our program, Nicla is authorized to cover the role of esaminatrice and intervistatrice in our PLIDA Examination Board.
Born in the fabulous 80’s, Isabella was raised in Rome where she got her Degree in Teaching and Translation in foreign languages at the University ‘La Sapienza’.
Eric was born and raised in Como by an American mother and an Italian father. He holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from Bocconi University in Milan and a Master’s in Corporate and International Finance from Durham University in the UK. His international background led him to pursue a business career in the United States, ultimately settling in Seattle, where his wife grew up.