Biography
Considered by critics an “enfant prodige”, he began studying violin with his father at age six and after a year he made his debut recital with his mother, pianist.
Being very fast at mastering the instrument, Andrea made his debut as a soloist at age thirteen with the "Fondazione Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana" performing H. Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5.
Andrea Obiso won the “66th ARD International Competition 2017” in Munich (Germany) where he also won the special prize for the best performance of the world-premiered work “For Solo Violin” written by Avner Dorman.
Andrea was awarded 1st Prize and Public Prize at the Prix Ravel 2017, 2nd Prize at the “XI A. Khachaturian International Violin Competition”, the “Special Prize for Virtuosic Performance” at the “6th Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians” in Korea. He was a semifinalist at the “Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition” and winner of eleven first prizes in national competitions.
Andrea is an “Artist Diploma” student at the world-renowned “Curtis Institute of Music” in Philadelphia where he studies with Aaron Rosand under the “Eileen Rosenau Fellowship Program.” Furthermore, he studies conducting, counterpoint in composition, improvisation and aesthetics of music with the professors and his mentors Jonathan Coopersmith, Noam Sivan and Ford Lallerstaedt.
From 2005 to 2015, he has been the youngest student admitted to the Accademia Chigiana in Siena (Italy) in the studio of Boris Belkin, with whom he studied also at the Maastricht Conservatory.
He has received musical advices and collaborated with Lilya Zilberstein, Antonio Meneses, Augustin Hadelich, Bob McDonald, Peter Wiley, Arnold Steinhardt, Ignatius Solzhenitsyn, Ida Kavafian, Roberto Diaz, Gérard Poulet, Olivier Charlier, Philippe Graffin, Isabelle Duha, Alexis Galperine, Bruno Pasquier, the Ebéne Quartet, Mikhail Kopelman, Kimiko Nakazawa, George Pehlivanian, Steven Mercurio, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Michael Francis, Vladimir Spivakov, Andrea Licata, Stefano Ranzani and Nicola Paszkowsky.
He has an impressive solo and chamber music repertoire. His list of 34 violin concertos includes those of Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Sibelius, Saint-Saens, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Paganini, Glazunov, Dvorak, Strauss, Prokofiev and many others.
His most important performances have happened with the Bayerische Rundfunk Symphonie Orchester, Muenchener Kammerorchester, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra of Japan, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, Orchestra del Teatro Bellini di Catania, Orchestra Filarmonica di Bologna, Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, Orkest der Lage Landen, Moscow Virtuosi, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Limburgs Symfonie Orkest, Orchestra Arturo Toscanini di Parma and many others, always acclaimed by public and critics.
He has participated in several TV Shows and Radio Programs on BR-KLASSIK in Germany, on RAI 1 in Italy, and was a guest artist in many prestigious festivals as the “Festival of the Two Worlds” in Spoleto, the “Fontainebleau Music Festival” in Paris, “Sagra Malatestiana” in Rimini and the “Linari Classical Music Festival” in Florence.
In earlier seasons he made his debut in Moscow, at the Kremlin, with “The Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra” and Vladimir Spivakov, conductor, then in Japan and China. His 2016-2017 season kept Andrea on Tour in Europe, in Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile) and to make his debut at the Herkulessaal and at Gasteig Philarmonie in Munich. In 2018 Andrea toured Germany and Finland. He also made his debut at the prestigious Berlin Philarmonie with the Deutches Symphonie Orchester Berlin presented and recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur.
Andrea Obiso has just been appointed Concertmaster of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He will share the position with Carlo Mmaria Parazzoli.
Andrea Obiso currently plays on a “Joseph Guarneri del Gesù 1741″ violin, gracefully loaned by “NPO Yellow Angel” and uses a “E. Pajeot” bow loaned by “Nippon Violin Co. Ltd.”.