Antonio Pappano, the new musical director of the Accademia di S. Cecilia, has been in Rome to present his programme for the 2006-2007 season. Pappano, who is taking over the post from Myung-Whun Chung, will conduct nine out of the 28 concerts of the season, beginning with the German Requiem by Brahms on 27 October 2005.

The new season will include a further two requiems by Britten and Verdi, a concert performance of Don Giovanni, as part of the 250th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Mozart, and an abundance of 20th-century music. The Accademia will host a series of world-famous guest conductors and soloists including Wolfgang Sawallish, Mstislav Rostropovich, Seji Ozawa and Claudio Abbado, Uto Ughi, Edita Gruberova and Maurizio Pollini. Guest orchestras will include the Vienna Philharmonic , the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the London Philharmonic.

Pappano, who is to retain his post as musical director of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London, expressed his delight at joining the Rome academy, where he has been made to feel one of the family. He jokingly claimed to have married S. Cecilia. May the honeymoon be a long and happy one.