Biography
His intense concert activity leads him to perform for the most prestigious concert institutions, playing with conductors such as Yuri Temirkanov, Myung-Whun Chung, Christian Thielemann, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, Vladimir Jurowski, John Axelrod, Juanjo Mena, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Aldo Ceccato, Vladimir Spivakov, Isaac Karabtchevsky, and Daniel Oren.
Considered one of the most important violinists of his generation, he has been a guest at some of the major festivals, including Stresa, Naples, Città di Castello, Kuhmo, Bodensee, Kfar Blum, Berliner Festwochen, Sarasota, Ravenna, Lyon, Potsdam, Spoleto, Ljubljana, and, invited by Gidon Kremer, the Lockenhaus “Kammermusikfest”.
Born in 1965, Quarta began studying the violin at the age of eleven at the “T. Schipa” Conservatory in Lecce, later continuing his studies with Beatrice Antonioni at the “S. Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome. He subsequently perfected his skills with Salvatore Accardo, Ruggero Ricci, Pavel Vernikov, and Abram Shtern.
Alongside his intense solo career, he has combined conducting for more than twenty-five years, leading orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (OSI), the South Denmark Philharmonic (Sønderborg Symphony Orchestra), the Argentine National Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Teatro “Carlo Felice” in Genoa, I Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the “A. Toscanini” Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras, and the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano.
He debuted at the Musikverein in Vienna as soloist and conductor with the Philharmonia Wien, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam conducting the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, and recorded Mozart’s Concertos for two and three pianos as conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
He held the position of Soloist and Principal Conductor of the Orchestra dell’Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese and was Artistic Musical Director of the Orchestra della Fondazione I.C.O. “Tito Schipa” in Lecce. From 2017 to 2020, he served as Music Director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the UNAM (OFUNAM) in Mexico City.
Massimo Quarta has been awarded the “Foyer Des Artistes” International Prize and the “Gino Tani International Prize for the Performing Arts”. He has recorded for Philips; for Delos, A. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra; Paganini’s 24 Caprices for the British label Chandos; for Dynamic, a CD with music by N. Paganini, and, also by Paganini, the complete 6 Violin Concertos in the original manuscript version as violinist and conductor—a complete set considered a “true milestone for all violin enthusiasts” (Il Giornale della Musica). Also for Dynamic, acting as both soloist and conductor with the “Haydn” Orchestra of Bolzano, H. Vieuxtemps’ Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 were released.
The revolutionary approach given to his reinterpretation of the Paganini repertoire has won over audiences and received wide acclaim from the international press (CHOC Prize from “Le Monde de la Musique”), earning him a place of honor among the most distinguished violinists (The Strad) and defining him as “the personification of elegance” (American Record Guide).
Massimo Quarta teaches at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano (Musikhochschule). In 2026, he was appointed Professor of the Violin Master Course at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, of which he has also been an Academician since 2018.