In 1996, ten years after offering several highly selective courses at the Walter Stauffer Academy in Cremona with Bruno Giuranna, Rocco Filippini, and Franco Petracchi, Salvatore Accardo decided to found a string orchestra that would feature the best students and alumni of the Academy.
And so the Orchestra da Camera Italiana - OCI - was born, the only one of its kind in the world – an ensemble whose members all hail from the same school, resulting in an unparalleled unified expressiveness, technique, and style. The OCI was born of the desire to offer young, talented people an opportunity to work at a professional level, and to make use of the didactic experience and artistic development encouraged at the Academy.
Since its founding, the Orchestra has operated with the goal of continuing the Italian tradition of musical excellence. Knowing that the love of music will grow wherever there is an opportunity to participate, learn and understand it, they have tried to present and foster different kind of musical experience and dialogue to the public. Under the guidance of Maestro Accardo, the orchestra performs for everyone, from the most sophisticated audiences on national and international stages, to audiences who have little exposure to or training in classical or "serious" music. The orchestra even has special programs for young people, featuring listening guides and concert talks to help illustrate the different parts and characteristics of the orchestra and the performance.
The Orchestra performed its first tour in 1997, where it was featured at some of the premiere music institutions in Italy and abroad. In 1998, at the 50th anniversary celebration of the signing of the Italian constitution, they established the tradition of performing concerts in the Senate chamber, a tradition that continued until 2002.
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In 1998, the orchestra debuted to great acclaim at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany. The next year, they successfully toured around South America in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay, and received the 1999 award for Best Foreign Chamber Ensemble from the Association of Argentinian Music Critics. They also participated in the Parma Verdi Festival and the Mentone and Verbier Festivals.
In 2000, the Orchestra began a tour of Asia that touched all the major Asian capitals – Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taegu, and Hanoi – and ended with the customary Christmas Concert in the Italian Senate, dedicated to Carlo Maria Giulini. In the same year, besides performing numerous concerts around Italy, the Orchestra debuted in the Champs-Elysées Theater and the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and at Lincoln Center in New York. From that town, the OCI began a tour of the United States which ended in Florida. In 2001 the Orchestra also toured Germany and was invited to perform in Paris again. Besides, it took part in the Ankara and Tirana Festivals.
Over the years they have performed most of the major Italian venues, including the Bologna City Theater, the Paganini Auditorium and City Theater in Parma, the Ponchielli Theater in Cremona, the Chigiana Academy in Siena, the G. Verdi Conservatory in Turin, the Carlo Felice Theater in Genoa, The National Academy of Saint Cecilia in Rome, the G. Verdi Conservatory and Teatro Dal Verme in Milan, The Magna Room in the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, The Greek Theater in Siracusa, the Giovanni Agnelli Auditorium in Turin, the Dante Alighieri Theater in Ravenna, the Music Park and the Olympic Theater in Rome, the Goldoni Theater in Livorno, the Petruzzelli Theater in Bari, the Verdi Theater in Salerno, The Verdi Theater in Sassari, and the Politeama Teater in Palermo, among others.
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They also performed the inaugural concerts at the opening of the new Verdi Theater in Brindisi in 2006, and the Niemeyer Auditorium in Ravello in 2010.
The Orchestra da Camera Italiana has recorded with Warner Fonit, EMI Classics, and Foné Records. Two of their earliest CDs, The Virtuoso Violin in Italy, and Masterpieces for Violin and Strings (1997) were recorded with Warner Fonit. They released The Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra by Paganini with EMI Classics (1998-1999), and two important projects with Foné: a recording of the Concert for the Constitution (1997), including also the National Italian Anthem orchestrated for violin and strings by Franco Tamponi, and The Concertos of Palazzo Madama (1998 and 2002), recorded in the Senate Chamber during the Christmas concerts.
The orchestra also released three “Super audio CDs” with Foné: one of The Complete Works for Violin by Astor Piazzolla (2001), with violinistic review by Salvatore Accardo and orchestration by Francesco Fiore, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (2009), and the Vesuvio Concerto for the donation of Stradivarius's violin to the city of Cremona (1995).
The Orchestra is supported by
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