Maestro Salvatore Di Vittorio, Music Director of Chamber Orchestra of New York

Chamber Orchestra of New York, under the musical direction of Salvatore Di Vittorio, has some exciting performances planned in April and May. On Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m., Chamber Orchestra of New York will perform in the DiMenna Center’s Cary Hall and on Friday, May 27 at 7:30 p.m., the orchestra will perform in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall. 

This premier ensemble established in 2006 advances the careers of extraordinary young artists. The orchestra presents works that bridge the classical and modern traditions. Internationally recognized for its championing of the Italian repertoire, Chamber Orchestra of New York aims to cultivate a wider audience for the future of classical music.  Woman Around Town had the fascinating opportunity to interview Maestro Salvatore Di Vittorio about his career and the Chamber Orchestra of New York’s upcoming performances.

Di Vittorio is the founding Music Director of Chamber Orchestra of New York, which debuted in 2007 at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. His Naxos recordings with the orchestra continue to air worldwide, receiving much critical praise. He has worked with an impressive array of orchestras that include London Philharmonic Orchestra, Teatro Alla Scala Opera Orchestra of Milan, San Diego Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, and Teatro Massimo Opera Orchestra of Palermo. Di Vittorio is fascinated with the world of storytelling and is best known for his lyrical orchestral poems, including program symphonies, which are often inspired by classical antiquity and show connections to the Italian Renaissance and Baroque. 

Who was the very first person to recognize your musical talents? 

My father, Giuseppe, was a classical musician and my first mentor in classical music studies beginning with theory and solfege. 

Have you had any particular mentors? 

Yes, I’ve had several mentors in music after my father, from composition teachers such as Giampaolo Bracali (with whom I also studied conducting) and Ludmila Ulehla at Manhattan School of Music in New York to the great conductor Piero Bellugi in Florence. 

Salvatore Di Vittorio, Music Director (Photo by Ignazio Bilella)

We know you have travelled the world and performed in many impressive venues.  Can you tell us about some performances that stand out in your memory? 

I always say I am a composer, first and foremost, a composer who conducts and is recognized this way generally, internationally etc. Therefore, I more regularly visit other orchestras as either a composer or a composer conducting a program which often involves my compositions and/or my published restorations of Respighi’s music. One of the most intense productions in recent memory was when I made my conducting debut with Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana (Palermo’s Philharmonic) at Teatro Politeama of Palermo in 2012, premiering my dedicated Sinfonia N. 3 “Temples of Sicily” with Respighi’s towering Fountains of Rome, alongside my completion of his first Violin Concerto. The mayor was present and I was humbled to receive a medal from the city the same weekend. 

We’d love to know more about the musicians performing in the Chamber Orchestra of New York. 

It’s a superb young orchestra. Orchestral musicians undergo a live audition in front of a jury to be accepted into the very few roster positions when they become available, and the entire nature of the orchestra is to complement the most brilliant young musicians as they develop their often complex careers into veteran orchestra positions. 

What advice can you lend aspiring conductors? 

It’s very important to fully understand who you are, and what you’d like to become very early and do not belittle the importance of what may be perceived as your weaknesses because they often turn out to work hand in hand with your strengths. Early on, I had a difficult time getting my works performed despite their lyricism because I am a neoclassical composer – whose style is rooted in serious tradition and very high expectations respecting the classics. This handicap turned out to be a reward when the family of the great Italian (neoclassical) composer Ottorino Respighi were searching for an Italian composer to complete several of his unfinished/unpublished works and, at the time, I believe Italy’s leading publisher qualified that there were probably only about three living Italian neoclassical composers – and I won the commission. 

The two upcoming performances in New York City this spring are very exciting.  What would you like audiences to know about them? 

Our VIP performance at DiMenna Center on Friday, April 22, 2022 will feature highlights from that week’s recording sessions for Naxos Records. One of the Respighi works that will receive its world premiere recording is Respighi’s “Tre Liriche” for mezzo and orchestra featuring a great Venetian contralto Alessandra Visentin. Many people do not know but the great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti was one of the first opera singers to truly champion Respighi’s “Nebbie” (from “Tre Liriche”) in the 1970s-1980s, decades before the damaged autograph manuscript of its originating song cycle titled “Tre Liriche” (with songs “Notte,” “Nebbie,” “Pioggia”) was rediscovered by the Respighi family and archive. Thanks to Respighi’s great nieces (sisters) Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli and Respighi archive curator/cataloger Potito Pedarra, the rediscovered song cycle became part of the Respighi restoration commission that I was honored to receive in 2008.  

This season’s finale concert on Friday, May 27th at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall begins with my own Villa d’Este at Tivoli which was premiered at The Morgan Museum. We will perform Jewish-Italian composer Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “First Guitar Concerto” after his granddaughter Diana says a few words, and end with Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.” 

Please share anything else you’d like our readers to know. 

The orchestra is approaching its 15th Anniversary next season 2022/2023. It’s an exciting time for the musicians, the administration and its Board – and we are looking to increase our Board as well as patrons, including corporate patrons, who enjoy a lighthearted musical experience and share our vision to help the next generation of brilliant young orchestral musicians in New York. We will soon be announcing details of a very special anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in a program to include John Williams’ “Star Wars Suite.” We hope to make new friends!

Top Photo: Chamber Orchestra of New York: Photo by Nanette Melville

Chamber Orchestra of New York

Salvatore’s biography

DiMenna Center performance  

Carnegie performance