Francesca Dego

Francesca Dego is one of the most sought-after violinists on the international scene.

Recent engagements include a long tour in Japan with the NHK Symphony conducted by Fabio Luisi, Bernstein's Serenata at La Fenice in Venice, debuts with the London Symphony and Jonathon Heyward, at the Kennedy Center in Washington with the National Symphony, in Paris with the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and Philippe Herreweghe, with the Indianapolis Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, RTÈ in Dublin and the NAC Orchestra in Ottawa, and the Orquesta de Castilla y León. In the coming months he will make debuts with the Swedish Radio Symphony in Stockholm, Bergen Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and return to the Royal Philharmonic, Orchestra Haydn, Hallé and City of Birmingham, among others.

Francesca is signed exclusively to CHANDOS Records and her most recent release of Mozart Violin Concerti 3&4 conducted by Sir Roger Norrington with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra was received to unanimous critical acclaim including BBC Music Magazine 5* ‘Record of the month' in November 2021. Other releases include concertos by Paganini and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari alongside the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Daniele Rustioni, the recital disc Il Cannone, as well as a complete survey of the violin sonatas by Beethoven and of Paganini’s Caprices, for Deutsche Grammophon.

Francesca regularly appears with major orchestras worldwide including performances the Royal Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne, Tokyo Metropolitan and Tokyo Symphony at Suntory Hall, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and all the major Italian orchestras, Orquesta de Sevilla and Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana at Palau de le Arts, Auckland Philharmonia, Oviedo Philharmonia, Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, alongside great conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Fabio Luisi, Lionel Bringuier, Dalia Stasevska, Christopher Hogwood, Yoel Levi, Donato Renzetti, Grant Llewellyn, Wayne Marshall, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Diego Matheuz, Shlomo Mintz, Gemma New, Jader Bignamini, Jonathon Heyward, Alpesh Chauhan and Xian Zhang.

A refined chamber musician, she is the artistic director of the Gravedona Chamber Music Festival on Lake Como and plays with colleagues of the calibre of Salvatore Accardo, Alessandro Carbonare, Nerek Hakhnazaryan, Jan Lisiecki, Mischa Maisky, Antonio Meneses, Edgar Moreau, Daniel Müller-Schott, Martin Owen, Francesco Piemontesi, Alessandro Taverna, Roman Simovic and with pianist Francesca Leonardi with whom she has been collaborating for 17 years and with whom she has recently performed at the Louvre in Paris, Salle Moliere in Lyon, NCPA in Beijing, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the Ravinia Festival in Chicago.

Francesca also has a passion for contemporary music and counts herself a dedicatee of the works of, amongst others, Michael Nyman, Carlo Boccadoro, Cristian Carrara, Nicola Campogrande and Marco Taralli. She is a frequent contributor to specialist music magazines, penning a monthly column for Suonare News among others, and has written articles and opinion pieces for the BBC and Classical Music Magazines, The Strad, Musical Opinion and Strings Magazine. Francesca has also recently published her first book, Tra le Note. Classica: 24 chiavi di lettura, with Mondadori in which she explores how classical music can be listened to and better understood today.

Francesca is based in London, and plays on a precious Francesco Ruggeri violin (Cremona 1697).