Biography
Born in Palermo, Italy, composer and conductor Salvatore Di Vittorio is heir to the Italian neoclassical orchestral tradition “following in the footsteps of Ottorino Respighi” – Luigi Verdi, Bologna Philharmonic Academy. In 2008, the great nieces of Respighi, Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli, entrusted Di Vittorio with the restoration of several early orchestral works, including the completion of the first Concerto for violin (in A Major). With his work as Music Director of Chamber Orchestra of New York and acclaimed Naxos recordings “Di Vittorio has been recognized internationally among the leading scholars and interpreters of Respighi’s music” – Giornale di Sicilia.
His compositions have been commissioned and premiered (often under his baton) by such orchestras as London Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Teatro Alla Scala of Milan, and Teatro Massimo Opera of Palermo – where he is Music Director of the Respighi Festival.
Di Vittorio is known for his lyrical orchestral poems which are inspired by classical antiquity and show connections to the Italian Renaissance and Baroque. Of his premiere with the Teatro Massimo Opera Orchestra, La Repubblica wrote “Viaggi di Enea is a beautiful, tonal and challenging work especially in the virtuosic finale.” The Philadelphia Inquirer cited “Venus and Adonis an orchestral song and often a beautiful one” for the premiere with Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia at Kimmel Center. His overture Sea Fanfare “On a Theme of Monteverdi” was enthusiastically received for the centennial commission of Balboa Park with San Diego Symphony at Copley Symphony Hall.
Giornale di Sicilia praised his debut with Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana at Teatro Politeama “From Pines of Rome to the Temples of Sicily”, and La Repubblica acknowledged Di Vittorio’s “neoclassical works” as his third symphony “captures Respighi’s impressionism, with influences of Berlioz and Strauss.” Mayor Leoluca Orlando awarded Di Vittorio the Medal of Palermo for “the great importance of Di Vittorio as a promoter of Palermo around the world” – Il Moderatore.
Di Vittorio studied composition with Giampaolo Bracali (later, conducting) and Ludmila Ulehla at Manhattan School of Music, and philosophy at Columbia University. A protégé of Piero Bellugi (Florence), Di Vittorio’s works are published by Panastudio/Casa Ricordi (Universal Music), recorded on Naxos Records, and listed in Daniels’ Orchestral Music. With Villa d’Este a Tivoli in 2016, Di Vittorio became the first Italian composer during his lifetime to donate an autograph manuscript to The Morgan Library and Museum’s music archive – followed in 2019, by his completions of Respighi’s Violin Concerto and Tre Liriche.