On Friday, 31 July 2026, at 5:15 p.m., Giulia Cremaschi Trovesi passed away at her home in Ponteranica, near Bergamo, Italy, surrounded by the love of her family.
Giulia Cremaschi Trovesi was a visionary musician, educator, and music therapist whose lifelong journey of study and practice reshaped the landscape of art therapies. As the founder of Humanistic Music Therapy, she did far more than teach a discipline: she shaped its identity and practice, while making a decisive contribution to its cultural and professional recognition.
At the heart of her work was the whole person, together with the conviction that relationship is the essential space of the music therapy experience—a space in which music can foster connection, growth, and transformation.
Key Institutional Milestones
- Founding the F.I.M. (1998): She established the Italian Federation of Music Therapists (Federazione Italiana Musicoterapeuti) to promote professional training, dialogue, and the international spread of Humanistic Music Therapy.
- National Standardization (UNI 11592): She actively participated in the technical working group of UNI (the Italian Standardization Body) that defined the UNI 11592 Standard on art therapies, establishing the official training and clinical requirements for certified music therapists in Italy.
Human and Cultural Impact
Her work accompanied hundreds of children, young people, and adults with disabilities, leaving a profound and lasting impact on them, their families, and generations of music therapists, educators, and healthcare professionals. Throughout her career, she lectured and held seminars globally, collaborating with health institutions, universities, music conservatories, and international research centers.
Her extensive body of writing on Humanistic Music Therapy remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the depth and originality of her approach. It continues to offer invaluable insights to practitioners, educators, researchers, and all those working in the helping professions.
“Giulia e Giulia”: A Legacy in Sound and Silence
Her extraordinary human and professional experience was featured by the Italian national broadcaster RAI in the touching documentary episode “Giulia e Giulia” on Domenico Iannacone’s program “Che ci faccio qui”, available to watch on the official streaming platform RaiPlay. The episode introduced the general public to the deep bond between Giulia Cremaschi Trovesi and the deaf cellist Giulia Mazza. It showed with extraordinary clarity how music can become a means of relationship, growth, and personal empowerment, allowing potential that might otherwise remain hidden to emerge and flourish.
With her passing, the international music therapy community, together with the wider worlds of education and research, has lost one of Italy’s most authoritative and inspiring figures. Her contribution will remain a lasting source of inspiration for future generations of practitioners and researchers, in Italy and around the world.
The gratitude, admiration, and respect inspired by her life’s work will endure long after her passing. Through the power of sound and silence, her legacy will continue to touch—and transform—lives.
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Manuela Bricconi
Member of the Technical-Scientific Committee
Italian Federation of Music Therapists (F.I.M.)
