The American Record Guide has described Massimo Quarta as “the embodiment of elegance” and according to Diapason “the brio and the sensuality of his playing, the purity of his sonority and the elegance of a diction deprived of emphasis, give to his view a tenderness and a refinement rarely heard.”
Massimo Quarta sets standards in his recording for Dynamic rediscovering the original version of both better known Paganini’s works as the 6 Violin Concertos played with the “Cannone” Guarneri del Gesú, the violin owned by the great Genovese virtuoso, as well as works for violin and piano ( I Palpiti, Napoléon, Weigl Variations, Le Streghe). His recording of Paganini 24 Caprices has been released by Chandos. His revolutionary approach to the virtuosistic Italian music have won over audiences and have been widely acclaimed in the international press (CHOC Award 2004 of “Le monde de la Musique”) gaining him an honoured place alongside the most distinguished artists (The Strad).
Massimo Quarta began to study violin at age of eleven at the “T. Schipa” Conservatory in Lecce, then followed his studies and graduated at the “S. Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome with Beatrice Antonioni. He subsequently studied with Salvatore Accardo, Ruggiero Ricci, Pavel Vernikov and Abram Shtern.
After winning the most important national competition, (Opera Prima “Philips”, Concorso di Vittorio Veneto), Massimo Quarta came to international attention in 1991 when he won the first prize at the prestigious “Nicoló Paganini International Violin Competition” in Genoa.
As a result of the extraordinary success achieved from this prize, he soon started an international career which has taken him to major concert halls in Berlin ( Konzerthaus, Philharmonie), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Paris (Salle Pleyel, Théâtre du Châtelet), Munich (Philharmonie am Gasteig), Frankfurt (Alte Oper), Duesseldorf (Tonhalle), Tokyo (Metropolitan Art Space, Bunka Kaikan), Warsaw (Warsaw Philharmonic), Moscow (Great Hall of the Conservatory), Milan (Teatro alla Scala), Rome (Accademia di Santa Cecilia), performing with such conductors as Yuri Temirkanov, Miun Wun Chung, Christian Thielemann, Daniel Harding, Daniele Gatti, Vladimir Yurowsky, Aldo Ceccato, Isaac Karbtvcevsky, Daniel Oren.
Firmly established soon as one of the most brilliant violinists of his generation, he has been the guest of renowned festivals notably those in Stresa, Sarasota, Kuhmo, Spoleto, Bratislava, Kfar-Blum, Bodensee, Ljubjana, Ravenna, Città di Castello, Lyon, Naples, Sapporo, Potsdam, Berliner Festwochen and Gidon Kremer’s Kammermusikfest in Lockenhaus.
Along with his intense career as a soloist, Massimo Quarta has been acclaimed as one of Europe’s most dynamic and exciting conductors, appearing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherland Symphony, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, the Berliner Synfoniker, the National Symphony Orchestra of Buenos Aires, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana OSI, the Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester (Denmark), the Orcquesta Filarmonica de Malaga, the Orchestra of Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, the Sudwest Deutsche Kammerorchester , “I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano” Orchestra, the Orchestra of Padova, the Fondazione “A. Toscanini” Orchestra, the “Haydn” Orchestra of Bolzano, the “Accademia di S. Cecilia” Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra.
Massimo Quarta had his début as soloist and conductor at Musikverein with Philharmonia Wien and at the Concertgebouw with the Netherland Symphony. He has recorded as conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra the Mozart Concertos for two and three pianos and Mozart Piano Rondos and as soloist and conductor with the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano, the Concerto n° 4 & 5 by H. Vieuxtemps for Dynamic.
He has been music director of the Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese Orchestra, the Fondazione I.C.O. “Tito Schipa” Orchestra in Lecce, and is since 2017 Music Director of the Orquesta Filarmonica de la UNAM of Mexico City (OFUNAM). Massimo Quarta has been awarded of the International Prize “Foyer Des Artistes”, of the “Gino Tani International Prize for Arts and Spectacles” and has also recorded for Philips and the “Four Seasons” by A. Vivaldi with the Moskow Chamber Orchestra for Delos.
He has been elected Accademico di Santa Cecilia by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Massimo Quarta is Professor at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana (Musikhochschule) in Lugano.
