Salvatore Accardo gave his first professional recital in 1954 at the age of 13, in a program that included the Paganini Capricci. In 1956, when he was 15, Accardo won the Geneva Competition and in 1958 became the first winner of the Paganini Competition in Genoa. His vast repertoire ranges from pre-Bach to post-Berg; composers like Sciarrino, Donatoni, Piston, Piazzolla and Xenakis have written for him.

In addition to playing regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, Salvatore Accardo performs successful recitals and is particularly devoted to chamber music. In 1992 he founded the Accardo Quartet and because of his deep involvement with young people, in 1986 he founded the Academy Walter Stauffer together with Giuranna, Filippini and Petracchi in Cremona, where they regularly give master-classes. In 1971 he founded the Settimane Musicali Internazionali in Naples, where the audience is admitted to rehearsals, and the Cremona String Festival.

In recent years, Accardo has also devoted part of his activities to conducting and has appeared with a number of important European and American Orchestras. He also recorded as a conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. In 1987 Accardo made a highly-praised debut as an opera conductor in a new production of Rossini's L’occasione fa il ladro at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, directed by Ponnelle. In the following years he conducted at the Rome Opera House, Monte Carlo Opera, at Lille and at the Naples Opera House. In 1992, in celebration of 200th anniversary of Rossini’s birth, he conducted both in Pesaro and Rome the first-ever modern edition of the Messa di Gloria (recorded live by Warner Fonit), a feat which he repeated in 1995 in Vienna with the Wiener Symphoniker.

Accardo has an extensive discography on Philips, DGG, EMI, Sony Classical, Foné, Dynamic, Warner-Fonit and in 1999 he re-recorded the six Paganini Concertos with the Orchestra da Camera Italiana for EMI Classics. Recently Foné remasterised the complete Mozart works for violin in 13 CDs, using high quality valve technology.

Salvatore Accardo was awarded the Premio Abbiati by the Italian critics, in recognition of the exceptional standard of his playing and interpretation. Italy’s highest honor, the Cavaliere di Gran Croce, was bestowed upon Accardo by the President of Italy in 1982. In 1996 the Peking Conservatoire named him “most honourable Professor”. In 1999 he was granted the order of Commandeur dans l'ordre du mérit culturel, the highest honour of the principality of Monaco and in 2001 he received the prestigious “Una Vita per la Musica” Award.

In 1996 Accardo re-founded the Orchestra da Camera Italiana (O.C.I.), whose members are the best pupils of Cremona “Walter Stauffer” Academy. In 1997, he registered two CDs with them: The virtuoso violin in Italy and Masterpieces for violin and strings for Warner Fonit Cetra, marking the record debut of the Orchestra da Camera Italiana. In 1999 Accardo and O.C.I. registered the complete Paganini Concerti for violin and orchestra for EMI Classics, the Concerto per la Costituzione and the complete Astor Piazzolla works for violin in 3 SACDs for Foné.

Accardo is the owner of two Stradivarius violins: the Hart ex Francescatti 1727 and the Firebird ex Saint-Exupéry 1718.

Partial Discography as Violinist and Conductor

Accardo / Bach, Johann Sebastian / Mutter
Bach: Concertos For Two Violins, Etc / Mutter, Accardo

Accardo / Bruch / Leipzig Gewandhaus / Masur
Bruch: Complete Violin Concertos, Scottish Fantasy / Accardo

Essential Baroque
#1 Baroque Album

Accardo / Paganini
Accardo Plays Paganini - Complete Recordings / Dutoit, Et Al

Accardo / Beethoven / Giulini
Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Romances / Accardo, Giulini

B.S.O. / Davis / Dutoit / Lpo / Mendlessohn
Best Of Mendelssohn

Violin Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits – Violin

Accardo / Haydn / Walevska
Haydn: Violin Concertos, Cello Concertos / Accardo, Walevska

Masters Of The Bow
Masters Of The Bow - Violin / Accardo, Bell, Grumiaux, Et Al

Accardo / Mozart / Rampal / Rostropovich / Stern
Mozart: The Flute Quartets / Rampal, Stern, Accardo Et Al

Accardo / Solisti Di Napoli / Vivaldi
Omaggio A Stradivari- Vivaldi: Four Seasons, Etc / Accardo

Accardo / Paganini
Paganini: 24 Capricci / Salvatore Accardo

Salvatore Accardo – Discography Accardo / Dutoit / Lpo / Paganini
Paganini: The Violin Concertos / Accardo, Dutoit, London Po

Accardo / Dutoit / Lpo / Paganini
Paganini: Violin Concertos No 1 & 2 / Accardo, Dutoit

I Virtuosi Di Assisi / Paganini / Quarta, Massimo
Paganini: Works For Violin And Orchestra - First Complete Edition

Accardo, Salvatore
Paganini's Violin / Salvatore Accardo, Laura Manzini

Accardo / Elgar / Manzini / Milstein / Tartini
Paganini's Violin / Salvatore Accardo, Laura Manzini

Panorama: Ravel
Ravel: Bolero, La Valse, Etc / Karajan, Boulez, Et Al

Accardo / Ssin / Vivaldi
Rosette Collection - Vivaldi: Four Seasons, Etc

B.S.O. / Davis / Sibelius
Sibelius: The Complete Symphonies Vol 2 / Davis, Boston So

Accardo / Arrau / B.S.O. / BBC / Davis / Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No 1, Violin Concerto No 1

Tchaikovsky
Trio - Tchaikovsky: Complete Concertos /Haas, Accardo, Et Al

Ultimate Vivaldi
Ultimate Vivaldi - The Essential Masterpieces

Accardo / Vivaldi
Vivaldi: Four Seasons / Salvatore Accardo

Vivaldi / Accardo / Camera Italiana
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / Accardo, Orch Camerata Italiana

Salvatore Accardo – Discography Gentile, Marina
Paganini: Works For Violin And Bassoon / Accardo, Gonella

Mutter, Anne-Sophie
Very Best Of Anne-Sophie Mutter / Karajan, Muti, Ozawa, Mutter, Et Al

Paganini Caprice No. 24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXnda3aWtis

Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Ujx9kQ0DQ

Paganini violin concerto no.6 (I) - Risoluto (1of 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHw82wgSO_c&list=RDp7Ujx9kQ0DQ&ind ex=9

Paganini violin concerto no.6 (I) - Risoluto (3 of 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhYBt9ycR4U&index=5&list=RDp7Ujx9kQ0 DQ

Nicolò Paganini The Violin Concerto No 4 in D minor Allegro maestoso Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQV5yxBKMPk&index=20&list=RDp7Ujx9k