Salvatore Accardo (;

Knight Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Grand ...

born 26 September 1941 in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) is an Italian

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist and conductor, who is known for his interpretations of the works of

Niccolò Paganini Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices fo ...

. Accardo owns one

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ...

violin, the "Hart ex Francescatti" (1727) and had the "Firebird ex Saint-Exupéry" (1718). Salvatore_Accardo_1968_dedicated_photo_on_first_of_his_three_Southern_Africa_tours

Salvatore_Accardo_1968_dedicated_photo_on_first_of_his_three_Southern_Africa_tours

Biography

Accardo studied violin in the southern Italian city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in the 1950s. He gave his first professional recital at the age of 13 performing Paganini's ''Capricci''. In 1958 Accardo became the first prize winner of the Paganini Competition in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. In the 1970s he was a leader of the celebrated Italian chamber orchestra " I Musici" (1972-1977). After he was a student in

Accademia Musicale Chigiana The Accademia Musicale Chigiana (''English'': Chigiana Musical Academy) is a music institute in Siena, Italy. It was founded by Count Guido Chigi-Saracini in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organises Master Class ...

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

, he taught there from 1973 to 1980. Accardo founded the Accardo Quartet in 1992 and he was one of the founders of the Walter Stauffer Academy in 1986. He founded the Settimane Musicali Internazionali in Naples and the Cremona String Festival in 1971, and in 1996, he re-founded the Orchestra da Camera Italiana (O.C.I.), whose members are the best pupils of the Walter Stauffer Academy. The most famous pupils are Alessio Bidoli, Franco Mezzena and Anastasiya Petryshak. He performed the music of Paganini for the soundtrack of the 1989 film '' Kinski Paganini''. In 2004, he came back to

, and now he teaches in

Honours

* : Grande Ufficiale dell'Ordine al merito della Repubblica italiana (June 1965) * : Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell'Ordine al merito della Repubblica italiana (Oct 1982) * : Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit (November 1999)

Discography

He has recorded Paganini's ''24 Caprices'' (re-recorded in 1999) for solo violin and was the first violinist to record all six of the violin concerti by Paganini. He has an extensive discography of almost 50 recordings on Philips, DG, EMI, Sony Classical, Foné, Dynamic, and Warner-Fonit. He recorded Rossini String Sonatas, a cherished 1981 issue 6769 024, and an album of classical and contemporary works in 1995 on Paganini's Guarneri del Gesù 1742 violin, ''Il Cannone''. He also recorded with the pianist Bruno Canino the complete sonatas for violin and piano of Mozart. * Diabolus in Musica, Accardo interpreta Paganini 1996

References

External links

Additional biographical information

Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks
* Salvatore Accardo
Accademia Musicale Chigiana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Accardo, Salvatore 1941 births Living people Italian classical violinists Male classical violinists Italian male conductors (music) Musicians from Turin Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Paganini Competition prize-winners People from Torre del Greco Commanders of the Order of Cultural Merit (Monaco) 21st-century Italian conductors (music) 21st-century Italian male musicians 21st-century classical violinists 20th-century Italian conductors (music) 20th-century Italian male musicians 20th-century classical violinists Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic