Tri-Institutional Noon Recitals

Chamber Orchestra of New York is a professional orchestra founded by composer/conductor Salvatore Di Vittorio in New York, NY in the year 2006 on the 250th anniversary of the birth of W. A. Mozart. It is the first, auditioned professional orchestra in the history of New York to be entirely devoted to leading young professionals. It provides regular performance opportunities for young orchestral musicians exiting the music conservatories, while in the early phases of their careers.

The orchestra’s instrumentation (and roster of 45 musicians) was established in agreement with the stage dimensions of Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, where its triumphant debut was held on 11 October 2007. Following the inaugural season finale concert, Vivien Schweitzer of The New York Times wrote: "The musicians played…producing a polished, rich sound…a stirring performance [of Mahler’s Adagietto and]...a voluptuous rendition of Tchaikovsky's Souvenir…." As of this season, the ensemble serves as orchestra-in-residence of Music Under the Dome series at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste on the upper east side, and will have performed at the Italian Cultural Institute, Eventi Hotel/Big Screen Plaza, Caspary Auditorium/Rockefeller University, Merkin Concert Hall and The Morgan Museum.

The Chamber Orchestra is dedicated to presenting the great orchestral repertoire alongside undiscovered or rarely performed gems which complement and extend the classical tradition, from early Italian legends to contemporary American masters. It was established in honor of the great composer Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936), whose works including his Roman Trilogy (Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome and Festivals of Rome) are considered the culmination of the Italian symphonic repertoire. Following Respighi’s legacy, the orchestra fosters a deep respect for antiquity by incorporating into its programming masterpieces of the baroque and classical eras alongside neo-baroque and neo-classical repertoire of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The orchestra’s Board includes many esteemed artists as well, such as Evan Wilson (Former Principal Viola, Los Angeles Philharmonic), film composer Ennio Morricone, conductors Alan Gilbert (Music Director, New York Philharmonic) and Andrew Litton (Music Director, Bergen Philharmonic-Norway) as well as soloists Lynn Harrell, Cho-Liang Lin and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. It boasts an elite ensemble of gifted musicians, including first concertmaster Kelly Hall-Tompkins (New Jersey Symphony) and second concertmaster Daniel Khalikov (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra).

In 2009, Music Director, Salvatore Di Vittorio, gained considerable attention as a composer for his orchestration and completion of Ottorino Respighi’s rediscovered ‘first’ Violin Concerto (in A Major), an invitation he received from Respighi’s family descendants, great nieces Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli, and archive curator Potito Pedarra. This was the initial part of an ongoing commission to edit, orchestrate and complete several early Respighi works in their first printed, critical editions under the Ottorino Respighi Publications series with publisher Panastudio in Italy. In collaboration with the Pizzoli family (now Honorary Board Members) and musicologist Luigi Verdi, Salvatore Di Vittorio and the Chamber Orchestra of New York have established The Respighi Prize Music Competition for Young Composers and Soloists with the City of Bologna (Respighi's birthplace).

Di Vittorio’s completion of Respighi’s Violin Concerto was showcased along with his transcription/revision of Respighi’s Aria and Suite for strings, his own homage Overtura Respighiana and first two Sinfonias on Naxos Records (8.572332 and 8.572333). The recordings were immediately successful on the international level, listed for several weeks on Gramophone Top 20 Classical Chart in London, honored as WQXR Classical Radio NY “Album of the Week” and “Album of the Month” in Italy (for June and July 2011). The music has also aired on RAI and BBC radio stations, and dozens of other stations in the U.S. and abroad. Over thirty reviews have been written in praise of the orchestra’s recordings. Highlights include: “Top billing goes to Di Vittorio’s completion of the [Respighi] Violin Concerto. Laura Marzadori proves a big-hearted, assertive soloist. Di Vittorio secures a tidy response from his young New York band.”- Gramophone Magazine (London); “Overtura Respighiana…is a devilishly delightful concoction that plays on Respighi’s Rossiniana and Pines of Rome, fusing them with references to Di Vittorio’s own music, to create a kind of freshly minted Boutique fantasque. Di Vittorio proves himself…to be a composer of beautiful music extraordinaire.” - Fanfare Magazine (New Jersey).

As part of its current Fourth Season, the Chamber Orchestra of New York looks forward to championing the performances of four newly printed critical editions of Ottorino Respighi’s music, including a restoration of Respighi’s orchestration of Claudio Monteverdi’s “Lamento di Arianna” (Ariadne’s Lament) for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, along with plans to record its next album on Naxos Records.

Italian-born Salvatore Di Vittorio has achieved international recognition as a composer and conductor, hailed by Luigi Verdi of the prestigious Philharmonic Academy of Bologna, as a “lyrical musical spirit, respectful of the ancient Italian tradition…and an emerging leading interpreter of the music of Ottorino Respighi.” He gained considerable attention with his orchestration and completion of Ottorino Respighi’s rediscovered first Violin Concerto (in A Major), a commission he received from Respighi’s family descendants and archive curator.

First noticed by chamber orchestras in Italy which premiered his early compositions, often in programs with Respighi’s music, Di Vittorio has been acclaimed a “serious, lyrical and romantic composer…following in the footsteps of Ottorino Respighi.” He then aroused national interest as Music Director and Founder of the Chamber Orchestra of New York “Ottorino Respighi” which debuted on October 11, 2007 at Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall – one of the first fully-auditioned ‘young professionals’ orchestras in New York, dedicated (in part) to the Italian repertoire. Following the inaugural season finale, Vivien Schweitzer of The New York Times wrote: "The musicians played…producing a polished, rich sound…a stirring performance [of Mahler’s Adagietto and]…a voluptuous rendition of Tchaikovsky's Souvenir…." In 2010, under the auspices of the Chamber Orchestra, he founded “The Respighi Prize” Music Competition with the City of Bologna.

Praised by renowned conductor Piero Bellugi for his compositions and elegance on the podium, Di Vittorio has been featured as composer and conductor by numerous orchestras: Accademia Musicale Siciliana, Teatro Massimo Opera (Palermo), Orchestra Filarmonica Franco Ferrara, Chamber Ensemble of Rome, Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, Florence Symphonietta, Festival Sinfonietta Umbra (Perugia), Carnevale di Venezia Musica, Royal College of Music Symphony (London), Brussels Chamber Ensemble, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Island Symphony, State Symphony of Sofia (Bulgaria), El Hanager String Orchestra (Cairo), Danbury Symphony, Adelphi University Symphony and Metropolitan Youth Orchestra. His music is inspired by philosophical-programmatic themes and captivates each listener with poignant lyricism and magnificent orchestrations.

Di Vittorio’s completion of Respighi’s Violin Concerto was showcased along with his transcription/revision of Respighi’s Aria and Suite for strings, his own homage Overtura Respighiana and first two Sinfonias on Naxos Records (8.572332 and 8.572333). The recordings were immediately successful on the international level, listed for several weeks on Gramophone Top 20 Classical Chart in London, honored as WQXR Classical Radio NY “Album of the Week” and “Album of the Month” in Italy (for June and July 2011). The music has also aired on RAI and BBC radio stations, and dozens of other stations in the U.S. and abroad.

Reviews praise Di Vittorio: “Top billing goes to Di Vittorio’s completion of the Violin Concerto that the 24-year-old Respighi left unfinished in 1903”-Gramophone Magazine (London); “Unabashedly tonal, traditional, and Italian, his style employs a great deal of chromaticism but also has a swelling lyricism”-American Record Guide; “A brilliant and sparkling semi-pastiche overture and two symphonies, which are pictorial-philosophical, using many of the significant tropes of late Romantic and neo-Romantic music from Mahler to Barber, to create very tonal, approachable works distinguished by his very Respighian sense of orchestral color”-Records International; “[Di Vittorio] is a composer of beautiful music extraordinaire.”-Fanfare Magazine (New Jersey); “[The Violin Concerto] sounds like genuine Respighi, with anticipations of characteristic moments in Pines of Rome”–Classics Today (New Hampshire); “his revisions, transcriptions and completions are sensitive to Respighi’s Neo-Baroque style”–Music Web International (London); “Respighiana…[is] a happy and very lively score”–David’s Review Corner (Cambridge); “di Vittorio proves more and more to be an important Italian composer…one can also find hints of Scarlatti and Rossini…in his music…[he] has composed an album of assured popularity”–Qobuz (Paris); a modernism that is resolutely neo-romantic, as well as verismo, even cinematographic…without concerns of criticism from the avant-garde…Respighiana, entwined with Rossini crescendos and fanfares alla Pines, is a contemporary music entirely timeless"–Abeillemusique (Paris); “a musician of remarkable attainment…in his two short symphonies, he emerges as a composer of prodigious imagination and talent” – Houston Public Radio/NPR (Texas). Other reviews include The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Northern Echo and Classic FM Magazine (London), Sacramento Bee, Strings Magazine, San Francisco Classical Voice and Arts San Francisco Observer (California), Buffalo News, America Oggi and New Music Connoisseur (New York), L’Informazione (Bologna), Ducale Music (Varese), La Repubblica (Rome), Il Mediterraneo and Giornale di Sicilia (Palermo), and La Nazione (Florence).

Born in Palermo, Italy, Salvatore Di Vittorio studied composition with Ludmila Ulehla and (conducting with) Giampaolo Bracali at the Manhattan School of Music, and aesthetics (and ancient) philosophy at Columbia University in New York. He is a protégé of Francesco Carotenuto (Conservatory of Music “S. Cecilia”, Rome), Piero Bellugi (Conservatory of Music “L. Cherubini”, Florence), and John Farrer (Royal College of Music, London). A member of the Manhattan School of Music Alumni Board Council, Di Vittorio has taught at Adelphi University and Loyola School in New York City. His compositions are published by Edizioni Panastudio in Italy. Recordings of his music are available on the Naxos and Panastudio labels. He resides in New York and Palermo.