Founded in 1977 in Milan and directed by the composer Sandro Gorli, Divertimento Ensemble has over 1000 international concerts and 16 CDs to its credit. Over 100 composers have dedicated new compositions to the Ensemble: these, and many others, have helped consolidate one of the most representative repertoires of new music, both Italian and international. Divertimento Ensemble organizes the Rondò concert season every year in Milan, which is entirely dedicated to contemporary music. For many years, Divertimento Ensemble has followed two guidelines that direct the most of its choices and activities: attention to youth and education. The tools used to follow these guidelines are competitions, workshops, masterclasses and courses for young composers, performers and orchestral conductors that are organized annually. The inclusion of the best young people in the Rondò’s programming, the Milanese season of the Divertimento Ensemble, makes it possible to achieve an important goal that is closely linked to these choices: support for young musicians in the delicate passage from training to professional employment. All of these activities, for Divertimento Ensemble, have long been performative additions. In order to better coordinate them, to facilitate their management, to support new ones, and to allow dialogue with European institutions pursuing similar goals, the IDEA – International Divertimento Ensemble Academy was born. Specifically, IDEA groups and coordinates training activities already in place into two distinguished, clear branches that are complementary to each other: courses (Conducting Course, Call for Young Performers, International Workshop for Young Composers, masterclasses) and competitions (Franco Donatoni International Meeting for Young Composers, AFAM national composition competition, On Stage! for original and innovative performative projects).
 The special project Composer in Residence every year offers a young composer the opportunity for a recurring presence of the Rondò’s program and the recording of a CD.