Francesco De Angelis is solo violinist and Konzertmeister of the Teatro alla Scala and the Filarmonica della Scala. He has established himself as one of the most talented musicians on the international music scene and is highly regarded by critics. His performances are characterised by an unmistakable romantic sound that expresses the cult of bel canto combined with the rigour of the great Central European instrumental tradition.
Francesco De Angelis began studying the violin at the age of six with Giovanni Leone, heir to the great school of Pablo Sarasate. He then participated at a very young age in one of Italy's most important musical events, the 'Rassegna giovani violinisti' Città di Vittorio Veneto, winning its first prize three times in 1982, 1984 and 1985.
At the suggestion of the soloist Jean-Jacques Kantorow he entered the "Académie de Musique Tibor Varga" in Sion (Switzerland), where he began further training under Maestro Tibor Varga.
At the age of nineteen, he won the international competition for the position of co-leader (Concertino dei primi violini) in the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala.
In 1993 he won the 1st prize, awarded unanimously, at the 21st National Violin Competition "Città di Vittorio Veneto".
In 1995 he won the audition as first violin of the Orchestra of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
In 1998, at the international competition for concertmaster violin of the Teatro alla Scala, he was chosen by Riccardo Muti to play the role of Concertmaster in the Orchestra d'Opera and in the 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.
He took part in the Ravenna Festival's 'Vie dell'amicizia' project in support of peace and played with the Filarmonica della Scala, under the baton of Riccardo Muti, in some iconic cities: Sarajevo (July 1997), Beirut (July 1998), Jerusalem (July 1999), New York at Ground Zero, on the first anniversary of the fall of the twin towers (September 2002) and in Damascus (July 2004).
As a soloist he has performed in some of the world's most prestigious concert halls, including Gasteig in Munich, Bachzaal in Amsterdam, Paris Conservatory, Rockefeller Center and Guggenheim Museum in New York, Reiss-Engelhorn Museum in Mannheim. He has performed with the Euskadi Orchestra, the "Tibor Varga" Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto. In 1999 with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, under the direction of Riccardo Muti, he performed as soloist Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante at the Teatro alla Scala. In 2003 he was personally invited by Valery Gergiev to St. Petersburg and Moscow as the only Italian representative in the "World Orchestra for Peace". He was invited as concertmaster in the Orchestra della Fenice di Venezia (First eligible in public audition), in the San Sebastian Euskadi Orchestra, in the Orchestra Nazionale della Rai di Torino, in the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and again in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. In the 2005-2006 season of the Filarmonica della Scala, he performed Glazunov's Concerto in A min. op. 82 under the baton of Semyon Bychkov, achieving extraordinary success with the public and critical acclaim. Just as intense is his activity in the field of chamber music with prestigious soloists, including Daniel Barenboim, Enrico Dindo, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Tibor Varga, Marcio Carneiro, Francois Guye, Madeleine Carruzzo and the Soloists of the Vienna Philharmonic. On 7 March 2011, he gave a concert at La Scala in Milan as a Trio with Alfredo Persichilli on cello and Lang Lang on piano: '(...) it is a true trio: fused together and individual in style. It finds its notable characteristic in the most lyrical outbursts, thanks to De Angelis's searing strum, so linear in Mendelssohn's singing, and so granulari n Tchaikovsky's that at times he too seems to be a cello", (Corriere della Sera, 9 March 2011). In the recording field, his two latest recordings for Decca (London) are of special significance. Accompanied by the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala conducted by Maestro Riccardo Chailly, he recorded the Solo of G. Verdi's Lombardi alla Prima Crociata (The Lombards on the First Crusade) and O. Respighi's Leggenda.
Francesco De Angelis teaches violin at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne in Sion, Switzerland and gives masterclasses in France, China, the United States, Brazil, Japan, Italy and Switzerland.
He is regularly invited as a jury member or as president of the jury in important international violin competitions such as the Tibor Varga in Sion or the Postacchini in Fermo.
He plays a violin by G.B. Vuillaume-Paris 1864 and a violin by A. Poggi-Bologna 1969.