The Philharmonic School of Kefallinia, a non-profit historical association, has been the focus of musical culture and the core of the musical education of young people for 166 years.

It has a state-recognized conservatory and a band of wind instruments. It is one of the oldest music schools of the Ionian Islands (founded in 1838).

The School's band in the past left an era for the quality of its musical performances. It is the band that in 1896 with Francesco Nicolini as conductor took part in the first Olympic Games in Athens. The music teacher and creator of the Greek melodrama Dionysios Lavrangas was the conductor of the band and later the artistic advisor of the School. Also, the great composer Mikis Theodorakis, as he has stated repeatedly, the first musical sounds-sketches were experienced in Argostoli as a child, and which were due to the excellent musical performances of the school's band.

This history and the contribution of the School to the music education of the country continues today. This was helped by the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation because through its donation the neoclassical building of the School in the concert and lecture hall was recently repaired and renovated, whose artistic activity of the conservatory's band and string orchestra continues.

The Philharmonic School of Kefallinia, along with its other activities since the mid-20th century, founded a conservatory. This conservatory was first placed under the artistic direction of the Athens Conservatory, as can be seen from the no. 8303/4-19-1937 document.

The specific conservatory of the Philharmonic School of Kefallinia under the name Rokkos Vergotis was founded in 1988 and has schools of piano, violin, guitar, flute, accordion and percussion, as well as schools of advanced theorists of special harmony, counterpoint, escape and instrumentation. The teaching staff employed amounts to 12 teachers of all specialties, graduates and graduates. The student population reaches about 150 students, which does not include the 50 students of the wind instruments (band).

Every year concerts and student theatrical performances are given, accompanied by music by the students of the conservatory. Also, students of our conservatory have participated in panhellenic competitions winning awards and praises, but also during their admission to the music university they have taken first places.

It is an Association based Lixouri, Kefalonia. The purpose of the association, as defined by its Statutes (1904 and 1972) is "the free teaching and education of young people of both sexes from the Province of Pallis originating in vocal and instrumental music, the preservation of the musical body, the preservation of the musical tradition in Lixouriand in the Province of Pallis in general,  the promotion of music in Lixouri ....".

According to the bibliography and the initial information, the foundation of the School between the years 1834 – 1839 is determined. In other words, it is probably the oldest Philharmonic in Greece. With the foundation, at that time, of its Philharmonic, Lixouri took the lead in the "cultural movement" during which, within about fifty years, Philharmonic Schools were founded in the Ionian Islands,  with the aim of cultural development and national awareness of their inhabitants, during the period of British rule. The establishment of these Philharmonic Orchestras is not just about preserving and "organizing" an existing tradition,  but it is the generative factor of a very important component of Greek Culture: the artistic musical expression through instrumental ensembles, which initially through these very Philharmonic Orchestras and later through Symphony Orchestras served great Kefalonian composers (Lavrangas, Tzanis - Metaxas, T. Dellaportas, etc.). 

In the Archive of the historian Elias Tsitselis, a copy of the first "Statute" of the School is preserved, which was identified and published by the Professor of the University of Patras George Moschopoulos in his announcement at the Conference on the History of Ionian Music  entitled "Contribution to the History of Ionian Music", which was held  in Argostoli and Lixouri in 1995.^[1] This Statute, which dates back to the year  1839, emphasizes the democratic processes of the group that founded the School, of which the sixteen-year-old Petros Iacovou Skarlatos was an active member. In addition, it is clearly stated that the young people of Lixouri participating in this movement meet in a body in order to be taught the Art of Music  and to this end they decide to hire a teacher at their own expense and make a regulation for their education. In other words, it is the first school organization in Greece with the aim of providing music education, for the first association with the main purpose of musical popular education.

The musicologist Georgios Raftopoulos, in a volume dedicated to Petros I. Skarlatos, founder of the  School and a distinguished composer, presents photographs of the coat of arms of the Philharmonic, where it is written as the date of foundation in 1834. The historian of Kefalonia Elias A. Tsitselis, who served as President of the Philharmonic, mentions in his Symmitika (vol. I), biographing Petros Skarlatos as the date of foundation in 1837. The  Kefalonian satirical and historiodist  Christos Vounas mentions 1837 or 1836 as the date of foundation. In the face of the  variation of these dates we assume that the foundation of the School is prepared even earlier than the prevailing date (1836) and that it operated informally.

A particularly distinguished moment in the operation of the School is mentioned by Tsitselis the dissolution of the Band in 1839 under the pressure of the British Protection "because the students refused to play the English Hymn, as ordered by the Authority". In 1855 Petros Skarlatos took over the management of the School, as the "Lixouri Philharmonic School", until 1863.

The first conductors of the School were Livieri, and G. Cricca, and then Titoni, Sp. Bitsis, C. Carradori, Balassone et al. The Philharmonic went through a new phase of revitalization in 1896, when, as Georgios Raftopoulos notes, it was renamed the "Pallis Philharmonic School" with the Lixourian composer Tzortzis Dellaportas as Vice-President. Other conductors who passed through the management of the School are: Umbertos Perkola, Anastasios Robotis, Markos Tseroutis, Spyros Zervos-Koutsoumbis,  Dionysios Evangelatos , Leonidas Dapergolas, Nikolaos Tsilifis, Christos Tsekos, Andronikos Kourouklis   , Dionysios Theodoratos and others. 

From the beginning of the 19th century until today, continuously and uninterruptedly, the Philharmonic School of Lixouri and later "Pallis", has been on a trajectory of almost two centuries. In this course, it is founded on solid foundations and exercises in the city of Lixouri the function of free music education of young people. No adverse era or condition has been able to suspend this educational activity. Neither the wars that shook the whole of Europe during the 20th century, nor the divisive storm of civil war. Characteristic is the reaction of the Philharmonic during the great earthquakes of 1953, which made the islands a pile of rubble. Retrieving instruments and uniforms from the ruins, the Philharmonic continues in the ruined and terrified Lixouri to stand alone operating in one of the few surviving buildings,  the store of the Lixouri Nursing Home.