Francesco De Angelis is both leader and soloist of the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and Filarmonica della Scala. He is internationally acclaimed as one of the major talented musician by critics and public alike. The peculiarity of his performances is an unmistakable romantic sound blended with the Bel canto style and with the rigour of the middle-European instrumental tradition.
He began studying violin at the age of six with Giovanni Leone, descendant of the renowned school of Pablo Sarasate. Aged eleven he participated in a prominent Italian musical event, the "Rassegna Giovani Violinisti" Città di Vittorio Veneto, winning first prize (in 1982, and in successive years 1984 and 1985).
Following the suggestion of the soloist Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Francesco De Angelis further pursued his studies with Maestro Tibor Varga at the "Académie de Musique Tibor Varga" in Sion (Switzerland).
Aged 19, he gained the position of co-leader of Teatro alla Scala Orchestra. In 1993 he was unanimously awarded first prize at the 21st Concorso Nazionale di Violino, Città di Vittorio Veneto. In 1995, he auditioned successfully for the position of leader at Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 1998, participating in an international competition, he was chosen by Riccardo Muti as Konzertmeister for both the Opera Orchestra and Filarmonica della Scala.
Francesco De Angelis has collaborated with the greatest conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Gary Bertini, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Colin Davis, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Charles Dutoit, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Paavo Jarvi, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Georges Pretre, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Georg Solti, Jeffrey Tate and Yuri Temirkanov. Under Riccardo Muti's baton, he participated in the peace-fostering project "Vie dell'Amicizia" promoted by the Ravenna Festival in Sarajevo (1997), Beirut (1998), Jerusalem (1999), Ground Zero in New York, (on the anniversary of the collapse of the Twin Towers 2002) and Damascus (2004).
Francesco De Angelis has performed, as soloist, in concert halls such as: the Gasteig at Munich, the Bachsaal in Amsterdam, the Paris Conservatoire, Rockefeller Center and Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Reiss-Engelhorn Museum of Mannheim. He has played as soloist with the Euskadi Orchestra, the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra, l'Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto.
In 1999 he performed as soloist at Teatro alla Scala the Haydn Sinfonia Concertante with Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala and Riccardo Muti conductor.
In the season 2005-2006 he played the Glazunov Concerto in A min Op. 82 with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala conducted by Semyon Bychkov, a concert acclaimed by critics and audience alike.
In 2011 March 7th he played a concert at Teatro alla Scala di Milano in Trio with Alfredo Persichilli cello and Lang Lang piano. About this concert „Corriere della Sera“ wrote: <<...è un vero trio: fuso e individuato nello stile. Trova la sua cifra negli slanci più lirici, grazie alla bruciante cavata di De Angelis, così lineare nel canto di Mendelssohn, e in Ciajkovskij così granulare da sembrare a tratti anch' egli un violoncello.>>
Beside his activities as soloist and leader, he performs also in chamber music concerts. He played with prestigious solists such as Enrico Dindo, Massimo Quarta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Tibor Varga, Die Solisten des Wiener Philharmoniker. In 2003 he was personally invited by Valery Gergiev to represent Italy in the World Orchestra for Peace in St. Petersburgh and in Moscow. He is invited as Concertmeister in San Sebastian Euskadi Orchestra, in Lucerne Festival Orchestra, in Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Nazionale della Rai di Torino.
He is professor at the "Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Lausanne" HEMU (Switzerland) and he holds Master Classes in Italy, France, China, Switzerland, Brasil and Japan.