| Biography | Salvatore Accardo is an Italian violinist and conductor, who is known for his interpretations of the works of Niccolò Paganini. Accardo studied violin in the 1950s and gave his first professional recital at the age of 13 performing Paganini's Capricci. In 1958 Accardo became the first prize winner of the Paganini Competition in Genoa.
He founded the Accardo Quartet in 1992 and he was one of the founders of the Walter Stauffer Academy in 1986. He founded the Settimane Musicali Internazionali in Naples and the Cremona String Festival in 1971, and in 1996, he re-founded the Orchestra da Camera Italiana (O.C.I.), whose members are the best pupils of the Walter Stauffer Academy. He performed the music of Paganini for the soundtrack of the 1989 film Kinski Paganini. In the 1970s he was a leader of the celebrated Italian chamber orchestra "I Musici." |