Italian Ministry of Education faces music exam score errors in Maturità 2026

The 2026 Italian secondary school diploma (Maturità) introduces a compulsory oral exam, with the Ministry of Education selecting four subjects each year for the interview. Failure to attend the oral test now results in automatic failure, regardless of written scores.

During the second written test for music‑high schools, students received a sheet music version of Cécile Chaminade’s “L’Ondine” that contained about twenty inaccuracies – wrong alterations, chords, octaves and entire measures – compared with the original composition and the accompanying MP3. Student Matteo Di Massa of Liceo Musicale Manzoni in Latina reported the errors, noting that the erroneous score appears to have been taken from the user‑generated site MuseScore rather than a scholarly edition. After the exam, the Ministry’s website posted a corrected version, indicating that examinees worked with flawed material. The Ministry acknowledged “imprecisions” but maintained that the exam remains valid and announced an investigation.

The controversy adds to ongoing debate over the new oral‑exam format and its impact on thousands of students across Italy.