Alessandra Visentin, Chamber Orchestra of New York & Salvatore Di Vittorio
Biography Alessandra Visentin, Chamber Orchestra of New York & Salvatore Di Vittorio
Alessandra Visentin
One of the most fascinating voices on today’s opera and concert stages, Alessandra Visentin is especially acclaimed for the rarity of her voice type. In November 2022 the Italian Academy Foundation recognised her as a top-level Italian artist, and one of the most outstanding exponents of Italianità and of the classical artistry of the contralto.
Visentin has appeared at some of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals, among them the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Opéra de Reims, and the Salzburg and Ravenna Festivals. She has worked with renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta and Riccardo Chailly, among many others.
Visentin studied at the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi and the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado. A pupil of renowned contraltos Bernadette Manca di Nissa and Sara Mingardo, she also studied with Bob Kettelson and Regina Resnik.
She is the winner of several international competition, including the European Community Voice Competition at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino’s academy for young singers in Florence.
Chamber Orchestra of New York
had its triumphant debut on October 11, 2007 at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.
The orchestra is a premier ensemble that features a seasoned roster of New York’s most flourishing musicians. The orchestra is internationally distinguished for championing unique repertoire that bridges the classical and modern traditions, including iconic film music, through premieres and world premiere recordings of rediscovered masterworks. Through all-embracing approaches with its distinct programs – from performances to educational outreach – the orchestra aims to cultivate a broader audience across generations for the future of classical music.
The orchestra has received commissions from The Morgan Library & Museum, Dolce & Gabbana at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations, and Star Wars under Disney, among others. In 2008, Ottorino Respighi’s great nieces Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli, and archive curator/cataloguer Potito Pedarra, entrusted Music Director and composer Salvatore Di Vittorio with the task of editing, orchestrating, and completing several of Respighi’s early orchestral works for their first printed, published editions under Casa Ricordi in Milan. The orchestra’s albums for Naxos Records, including Respighi, continue to air worldwide to much acclaim. It has also established The Respighi Prize music competition, New York Conducting Workshop, and Maestro Juniors education program.
The orchestra celebrated its 15th anniversary season in 2022/2023, and on April 14th at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall featured a program titled Voyages: Star Wars & Respighi’s Fountains, shedding light on the influence of Respighi on the film scores of John Williams.
Salvatore di Vittorio
Born in Palermo, Italy, composer and conductor Salvatore Di Vittorio is heir to the Italian neo-Classical orchestral tradition ‘following in the footsteps of Ottorino Respighi’ (Luigi Verdi).
In 2008, the great nieces of Respighi, Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli, entrusted Di Vittorio with the restoration of several early orchestral works. With his work as music director of the Chamber Orchestra of New York and acclaimed Naxos recordings ‘Di Vittorio has been recognised internationally among the leading scholars and interpreters of Respighi’s music’ (Giornale di Sicilia). Di Vittorio’s compositions have been commissioned and premiered (often under his baton) by orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony and Teatro Massimo Opera of Palermo.
Di Vittorio studied at the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University. A protégé of Piero Bellugi, Di Vittorio’s works are published by Edizioni Panastudio/Casa Ricordi (Universal Music), recorded on Naxos Records, and listed in Daniels’ Orchestral Music. His autograph manuscripts of Villa d’Este a Tivoli, and his completions of Respighi’s Violin Concerto and Tre Liriche are preserved in the music archive of The Morgan Library & Museum.
