our mission

The Petrucci Music Foundation’s mission is to preserve, digitize, and expand access to public-domain music and related cultural resources, while supporting education, research, and creative engagement for musicians and the broader public

Meet the petrucci music foundation

The Petrucci Music Foundation is dedicated to preserving, digitizing, and expanding access to public-domain music and related cultural resources. We believe that music—particularly the vast body of repertoire in the public domain—should be freely accessible to anyone who wishes to study, perform, teach, or simply explore it. 

Public-domain repertoire represents a substantial portion of the Western musical canon, as well as a growing body of underrepresented works. While much of this material is technically “available,” access is often limited by the condition, accuracy, or usability of existing editions. The Foundation focuses on addressing these practical limitations in order to make public-domain music more functional for contemporary use.

  • A core part of our work is our collaboration with the International Music Score Library Project, one of the most widely used resources in the global music community. IMSLP hosts hundreds of thousands of scores, recordings, and music-related texts, serving millions of users each month, from professional performers and educators to students and lifelong music lovers.

    For many musicians, IMSLP is not just a resource; it is an essential infrastructure. It has fundamentally reshaped how repertoire is accessed, taught, and performed by making public-domain materials available instantly and freely across the world.

    The Petrucci Music Foundation exists to support and expand this ecosystem. By working alongside IMSLP, we aim to ensure that this resource continues to grow, remain accessible, and maintain the quality and reliability that musicians depend on every day.

  • In addition to supporting access, the Foundation invests in the creation of new editions of public-domain works. While access to public-domain music has improved dramatically in the digital age, significant gaps remain. Many works exist only in outdated, difficult-to-read, or poorly engraved editions. Others have never been digitized at all.

    To address this, the Foundation supports initiatives to create new, high-quality editions of public-domain scores. These efforts focus on:

    • Producing clear, practical, and readable editions for performers

    • Addressing errors and inconsistencies in source materials

    • Expanding the availability of works that are not yet widely digitized

    • Improving the suitability of scores for educational and scholarly use

    These efforts are intended to complement existing archival materials by providing editions that are more directly usable in rehearsal and performance contexts.

  • Access is only the beginning. The Foundation also supports the ways in which musicians and scholars engage with these materials. This includes educational initiatives, research projects, and creative work that brings public-domain music to new audiences.

    By focusing on both access and usability, the Foundation aims to support a wide range of musical activity, from individual study to professional performance.

Looking ahead

The Petrucci Music Foundation is committed to strengthening the infrastructure that supports open access to music. As we grow, we will continue to support the global community of musicians who rely on these resources.

Public-domain music is one of our most valuable shared cultural assets. Our goal is to ensure that it remains accessible, usable, and alive for generations to come.

board Members

EDWARD GUO

Edward Guo is a classical composer and an alumnus of the New England Conservatory of Music and Harvard Law School.  He is the founder of IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library, the world's largest free public-domain library of sheet music and recordings, and serves as President of Project Petrucci LLC, which operates IMSLP.  Through his work at the Petrucci Music Foundation, he aims to further support the classical music community.

President

carl simpson

Secretary & Treasurer

lois simpson

Board Member

staff mEMBERs

Melaina Mills

Melaina Mills is a soprano, producer, and arts administrator based in New York City. As Managing Director of the Petrucci Music Foundation and founding Artistic Director of Catharsis Arts Collective, she is passionate about expanding access to classical music, supporting living artists, and building vibrant, inclusive arts communities.

Managing Director

Natalie vargas nedvetsky

Natalie Vargas Nedvetsky is a classical musician, writer, and media strategist based in New York City, with formal training in piano (Juilliard) and poetry (Columbia University). As Head of Media at IMSLP, she leads content strategy and media partnerships, including the Excerpt Hub, a first-of-its-kind audition excerpt platform built in partnership with the MET Opera Orchestra, and a crossover interview series featuring grammy-winning artists across genres. Through her work with the Petrucci Music Foundation, she is passionate about expanding access to classical music and championing underrepresented voices.

Director of Partnerships

Daniel Benjamin Miller

Daniel Benjamin Miller is the Head Librarian at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP). His work includes digitization, tagging and processing of sheet music, copyright status research and coordination with libraries and other contributors. In addition to digitizing and processing items himself, he leads an international team of archivists in locating and digitizing public-domain scores. He is also working on projects to create new free critical editions of public-domain works.

Head Librarian

Fernando duarte de oliveira

Fernando Oliveira is a senior librarian at IMSLP, recorder player, and researcher. He holds degrees in recorder performance, historical musicology, and music education. He taught recorder, chamber music, and music theory at several institutions, and has pursued musicological research projects focused on the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Free cultural works, the public domain, and the dissemination of musical heritage are among his principal interests. When not immersed in the music world, he enjoys swimming, studying astronomy, and traveling with his family.

Senior Librarian