Museum of the Corfu Philharmonic Society

The Philharmonic Society of Corfu (also known as the “Old Philharmonic”) was founded on 12 September 1840 and is the oldest music educational organization in Greece. The original purpose of its founders was to create a complete music academy, similar to those in neighbouring Italy. This was an attempt to provide a viable solution to a long-standing problem, namely the absence of a pedagogically complete music school, which would offer Corfiots a musical education, regardless of social class, age, gender and general education. At this point it should be said that before 1840 in Corfu, access to music education was available either to people who could afford the financial expense of hiring a private music teacher or to members of the informal professional music guilds of the island. The latter was the only way through which one could acquire (semi-)professional musical training.