About
Dario Salvi is a Scottish-Italian conductor, researcher and musicologist. He is widely regarded as a fast-rising name in opera and operetta, and is known for his expressive gestures and precision of style. His career is marked by a passionate commitment to resurrecting forgotten musical treasures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Salvi's dedication to unearthing and reviving overlooked compositions has had a profound impact on the appreciation of operetta and light music around the world.
A specialist in the restoration, recording and performance of rare Viennese works, comic opera, ballet and orchestral music—particularly the works of the Strauss family and their contemporaries such as Czibulka, Ziehrer, Suppè, Millöcker, Genèe, Kàlmàn and Monti —he is a busy recording artist with Naxos, and has completed projects documenting forgotten works by J. Strauss II, Auber, Meyerbeer, Humperdinck, Marschner, Suppè, Bronsart, Adam and Herold.
AWARDS:
Dario has been awarded a Lifetime Honorary Member of the Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain for his extensive contribution to Viennese music.
He was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards 2022 for Strauss’ Waldmeister.
He is the recipient of the Golden Globe “Riccardo Drigo” Award for Ballet Music 2023.
He was knighted as a Knight in the “Order of St John” of Jerusalem - Knights Hospitaller (Malta) in December 2024.
Salvi has guest conducted and recorded opera and operetta across the USA, the Middle East and Europe, including the closing concerts of the Zagreb Philharmonic’s 2018/19 Season, for which he received outstanding reviews:
“[Salvi] is certainly the most astonishing phenomenon that has emerged recently with us. A real ballet master of the conductor’s baton, with big gestures, very expressive, sometimes with theatrical mimicry in communication with the orchestra, he was excellent in transferring his ideas to the orchestra. And these ideas were clearly dictated by his own taste, but also closely to the taste of the audience.”
— Jutarnji list, Croatia, 2019
Other performance highlights include conducting Mendelssohn Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings with the great Jose Gallardo on piano and Djafar Djafari on violin with the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2024; his work with Willy Bietak Productions as music director and consultant on an opera ice skating show, commissioned by Royal Opera House Muscat in 2018; concerts with Katia Guerreiro, one of the world’s leading Fado singers, and the Zagreb Philharmonic; and his guest performances for the closing of Winter Opera St Louis’ 2019/20 Season, La Fanciulla del West. More recently Salvi conducted the world premiers of Vassallo’s opera Edith Cavell at the Theatre Royal in Malta and Romberg’s The Desert Song again in St Louis.
Maestro Salvi is guest conductor and partner of Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra in New York, and principal guest conductor for Concert Operetta Theater in Philadelphia. He has worked, amongst others, with Prague Philharmonia (CZ), Czech Chamber Orchestra (CZ), Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus (BG), Malmö Opera (SE), Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (CZ), Neue Preußische Philharmonie (DE), Orchestra Al Chiaro di Luna (IT) Ruse State Opera (BG), Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Janaceck Philharmonic Orchestra (CZ), Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra (CZ) and has also worked with musicians and singers such as Jose Gallardo, Markus Werba, Jorge Pita Carreras, Andrea Chudak, Marija Jelic, Gina Galati, Djafer Djaferi, Luka Ljubas, Alba Shkreli, Konstantin Manaev, Ana Durlovsky and many many others.
Born in Northern Italy and currently residing in Scotland, Salvi has received musical training in both Italy and the UK. After studying soprano saxophone with S. Cecilia Philharmonia, he became an in-demand saxophonist and alto clarinet player and worked with many bands as a performer and arranger. He is a professional bass guitarist and has toured the world playing for bands and orchestras. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Psychology from the University of Derby (UK) in 2011, followed by a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2012 under the tutelage of Sharon Choa (currently Chair of the School of Music at the HK Academy of Performing Arts). During this time, he worked as Assistant Conductor and Arranger for Chamber Orchestra Anglia and founded the Imperial Vienna Orchestra, specialising in the authentic reproduction of Viennese music.
Salvi has published three books on Viennese operetta on Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and his musical arrangements are available on Musica Mundana, DaVinci Publishing, Naxos Publishing and Marcato Brass amongst others. His orchestral arrangements, including opera and ballet, have been commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), Moscow State Symphony Orchestra (RU), Düsseldorf Symphoniker (DE), Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra (US), The Salvation Army Orchestra (UK) and the Original C.M. Ziehrer Orchester (AT). His edition of Kerker’s “The Belle of New York” was used for the world premiere recording of the work, released on CPO records.
Dario Salvi's musical journey stands as a testament to the transformative power of a dedicated artist with a passion for musical heritage. As a conductor, musicologist, and advocate for the forgotten gems of the past, Salvi continues to shape the landscape of classical and light music, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural tapestry of our time.
(biography updated September 2023)
Select Reviews
“Salvi leads the production with genuine enthusiasm, pacing all the music sensibly and sensitively, eliciting fine singing from the chorus and delightfully bouncy playing from the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra.”
“Dario Salvi’s conductor’s ear is sharp, gestures ample but correct, the taste properly variegated, collaboration with the orchestra fun, and the result excellent. An all-round pleasure to the audience in the Lisinski Hall.”
“Salvi’s tempos all move smartly: he’s a conductor with a fine sense of Strauss’s style and knows how to pace things well.”
“The first merit goes Maestro Dario Salvi, who lovingly lives, vibrates the dazzling music of Johann Strauss, first by knowing how to do it and ‘breath’ by animating the right tempo, against the current trend to rush, and on the other hand, without ever forcing it either in brilliant or in reverse: restraints, irrelevant nuances.”