Salvatore Accardo is an Italian violinist and conductor. At the age of three he became interested in the violin and at the age of eight he was admitted to the Neapolitan School of Maestro Luigi D’Ambrosio. In June 1956 he was examined at the prestigious St. Peter’s Conservatory in Naples, five years in advance. Later, he was admitted to the mastering course of the Chigiana Musical Academy of Siena.
He gave his first concert at the age of 13 playing the Caprices of Niccolò Paganini. In 1956, he won the Genoa Competition and in 1958 he won first prize in the “Paganini” violin competition. He founded the Accardo Quartet in 1992 and was one of the founders of the Walter Stauffer Academy in 1986. He also created the “Settimane Musicali Internazionali” in Naples and the “Cremona String Festival” in 1971.
He has collaborated with international orchestras and with important conductors such as Carlo Maria Giulini, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel, Sir John Barbirolli, Kirill Kondrashin and many others.
Throughout his career, Salvatore has collaborated with great musicians such as Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Pierre Fournier, Rostropovich, Rampal, Isaac Stern, among others.