Ten years in the service of a legacy

Since its creation in Paris in 2017, the Maria Callas Foundation (Fonds de Dotation Maria Callas) has carried out an uninterrupted programme of films, exhibitions, books, performances and restorations — each project drawing on its collection, the most significant private collection in the world devoted to Maria Callas.

2017 — The founding year

The Fund is created in Paris, declared at the prefecture of Hauts-de-Seine on 12 June 2017, at the initiative of Tom Volf together with Maria Callas's closest friends and associates, with the conductor Georges Prêtre as honorary president and co-founder.

The same year, three landmark projects reach the public. The documentary film Maria by Callas premieres at the Rome Film Festival before its French release; it will be distributed in more than forty countries — released in North America by Sony Pictures Classics — and acclaimed by international critics. The exhibition Maria by Callas at La Seine Musicale (Paris), curated in partnership with the Departmental Council of Hauts-de-Seine, welcomes more than 30,000 visitors in three months. Two books are published: Maria by Callas (Assouline) and Callas Confidential (Éditions de La Martinière).

2018 — Monaco

The exhibition travels to the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, inaugurated by H.S.H. Prince Albert II, with unpublished photographs and films focusing on Maria Callas's Monegasque years, drawn from the Foundation's collection and from Monegasque institutions.

2019 — Letters and Memoirs

Publication of Maria Callas: Lettres et Mémoires (Albin Michel), based on more than 350 unpublished letters and the unfinished memoirs held in the collection. The book becomes a stage production conceived and directed by Tom Volf, starring Monica Bellucci, which premieres in Paris.

2019–2023 — A world tour

Maria Callas: Letters & Memoirs is performed in three languages across three continents — Paris, London, Venice, Athens, the United States, Spain, Turkey — returning to the Théâtre du Châtelet in 2022 with the Orchestre Lamoureux.

2021 — A discovery

The original 16 mm reels of Maria Callas's first Paris recital (19 December 1958, Palais Garnier) are rediscovered, together with a new sound source — the starting point of a full cinema restoration.

2022 — European recognition

The Foundation joins the Centre Européen de Musique network, alongside the houses and museums of Europe's great musicians.

2023 — The centenary

For the hundredth anniversary of Maria Callas's birth, the Foundation brings Callas – Paris, 1958 to cinemas: the 1958 recital restored in 4K and in colour from the rediscovered reels. World premiere at the Rome Film Festival, then a worldwide cinema release in the autumn — in France through Pathé Live on 2–3 December 2023, the very days of the centenary.

Callas – Paris, 1958 — official trailer

2024 — The archives on the world's screens

Original footage from the Foundation's collection is licensed to international film productions, with the Foundation credited on screen. In Paris, the Foundation marks the 101st anniversary of Maria Callas's birth with a fundraising evening gathering artists and patrons.

2025 — Opening the collection

Creation of the Société des Amis de Maria Callas (Friends of Maria Callas), the Foundation's membership circle. On 16 September, anniversary of Maria Callas's passing, Callas – Paris, 1958 is screened in Paris. In December, the Foundation presents archives from its collection — including the costume of her final Tosca and the crown of Turandot — at an exhibition in Paris's 8th arrondissement.

2026–2027 — Towards the Museum

All the Foundation's work now converges on one horizon: 16 September 2027, the fiftieth anniversary of Maria Callas's passing, and the goal of opening the Maria Callas Museum in Paris — the place where this collection will finally meet its public. Discover the museum project — and join those making it possible.