CELLO MASTERCLASS
The Masterclass will take place from the 19th to the 23rd August 2026 in Santarcangelo di Romagna.
Application Deadline: 30th August 2026
Masterclass Fee: 250 Euros
Application Fee: 100 Euros
BIOGRAPHY
Danilo Squitieri began his cello studies with Ilie Ionescu, an outstanding cellist and teacher. He later had the opportunity to study with several distinguished cellists, including, in chronological order: Cornelius Faur, Radu Aldulescu, Michele Chiapperino, Rocco Filippini, Francesco Strano, Luigi Piovano, Enrico Bronzi, Thomas Demenga, Antonio Meneses, and Enrico Dindo.
He graduated with top marks and honors from the “Perosi” Conservatory in Campobasso, where he also completed his postgraduate specialization with full marks (110/110 cum laude) and his teaching qualification with full marks (100/100). In the 2003/2004 academic year, he obtained his diploma from the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome in just two years, graduating with top honors.
Under the guidance of Rocco Filippini, he further refined his studies at the international courses in Sermoneta and for many years at the “Walter Stauffer” Academy in Cremona.
He has performed numerous times as a soloist and in chamber ensembles at the Grosser Saal, Kleiner Saal, and Neuer Saal of the Basel Academy of Music, where he completed his studies with Thomas Demenga in June 2006, graduating with top marks. In 2005, he studied with Antonio Meneses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, where he was awarded a scholarship. He also trained at the “International Chamber Music School of the Trio di Trieste” under Dario de Rosa, Maureen Jones, Renato Zanetovich, and Enrico Bronzi, completing the program with distinction.
He served as principal cellist of the “Archi di Santa Cecilia,” conducted by Luigi Piovano, with whom he recorded for Sony Classical. He has performed extensively in Italy and abroad and has won numerous prizes in national and international competitions, including the “Città di Magliano Sabina” International Competition and the 2010 “Vittorio Gui” International Competition (a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Geneva), where he performed in duo with pianist Vincenzo Oliva.
He has been a member of the Quartetto Adorno since its founding in 2015. With the quartet, he won the prize for the best performance of a work from the Second Viennese School, awarded by the University of Vienna. The Quartetto Adorno was also selected as a resident ensemble of the ECMA – European Chamber Music Academy, founded by Hatto Beyerle. In 2017, the quartet won third prize (with first prize not awarded), the special prize, and the audience prize at the “Premio Paolo Borciani” International String Quartet Competition. In the thirty-year history of the competition, no Italian quartet had ever achieved such recognition.
In 2018, again with Quartetto Adorno, he made his debut at Wigmore Hall and won the Rimbott Competition. In 2019, the quartet received the “Una Vita nella Musica Giovani” award, and in 2023 he was honored by the Rotary Club of Nocera Inferiore-Sarno.
In 2019, he recorded for Decca Italia Zemlinsky’s String Quartet No. 3, Op. 19, and Brahms’s Quintet, Op. 115, with Alessandro Carbonare. In 2021, also for Decca Italia, he recorded Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s quintet with guitarist Giampaolo Bandini.
In 2019, he was selected by the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels as an “artist in residence,” where he recorded Lekeu’s Piano Quartet with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Julia Pusker, and Miguel Da Silva. The box set including this recording received the “Editor’s Choice” award from Gramophone Magazine (April 2020), the “Diapason d’Or,” the “Caecilia 2019” award, and the “Choc de Classica.”
In 2021, he performed live in streaming with Louis Lorte, playing Fauré’s Piano Quintet No. 2, Op. 115, for the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in collaboration with The Phillips Collection.
Recently, he performed Elgar’s Cello Concerto in Rome with the Orchestra Roma Tre. On tour with the Kharkiv Philharmonic, he performed Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, Op. 104, and with the “Accademia di Santa Sofia” Chamber Orchestra, Schumann’s Cello Concerto.
In 2025, Suonare News magazine published his recording of Schumann’s Cello Concerto, Op. 129, and Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 95, arranged for string orchestra by Gustav Mahler, in which he performed as soloist and concertmaster.
He has given masterclasses at the Málaga Conservatory. Since 2026, he has held the position of Professor of Cello at the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome. He plays a 1919 Francesco Guadagnini cello.