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Sestetto Stradivari from Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

David Romano, Ruggiero Sfregola – violin
Raffaele Mallozzi, David Bursack – viola
Diego Romano, Sara Gentile – cello

Formed by musicians of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Symphony Orchestra of the, the Stradivari Sextet join together in December 2001 on the occasion of the concerts organized for the international exhibition “The Art of the Violin” held at Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome.

The ensemble’s rapport, cohesion, and passionate commitment soon transformed what was meant to be a one-off event into a project of far wider scope, which now sees the Sextet performing for major concert institutions both in Italy and abroad. In recent years, the Sextet has been invited by leading Italian organizations such as: Associazione Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples; Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; the Paganiniano Festival in Carro; Amici della Musica in Montegranaro, Florence, and Udine; Opera del Duomo in Florence; Concerti d’Altamarca; the Suoni delle Dolomiti Festival—where, invited by Mario Brunello, it performed in the splendid Bombasel Lakes valley before an audience of one thousand; Accademia Musicale Chigiana; Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; Teatro Mercadante in Altamura; the Teatrino of the Royal Palace in Naples; the MiTo Festival, with concerts in Milan and Casale Monferrato; Ameria Festival in Amelia; Maggio della Musica in Naples; the Ravello International Festival; Amici della Musica in Verona; Concerti della Normale in Pisa; Associazione Appassionata in Macerata; and the Lucchese Concert Society.

The Sextet has also taken part in several editions of Rome’s “White Night” and “Night of the Museums,” performing at Palazzo Braschi and Palazzo Barberini to great critical and public acclaim. Its international activity is equally extensive. The ensemble has played in some of the most prestigious halls of Latin America: in Argentina at the Teatro El Círculo in Rosario, the Colosseum Theatre in Buenos Aires, and the Teatro del Bicentenario in San Juan; in Brazil at the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus and at the Palácio das Artes in Belo Horizonte, where it was a special guest for the cultural events “Na copa na Italia” during the Football World Cup; and in Uruguay at the magnificent Teatro Solís. In China, the Sextet has performed at the Chongqing Guotai Arts Centre; Shanghai Oriental Art Center; Shanghai City Theatre; Jinjiang Cultural Center; Yangzhou Concert Hall; Beijing Sunrise Concert Hall; Beijing Mong Man Wai Hall; Tsinghua University in Beijing; and the Beijing Concert Hall. In Spain, it has appeared at the Palau de la Música in Valencia; the Auditori de la Vall d’Uixò in Castellón; and the Palau Altea in Alicante.

In 2020, the ensemble performed in a 19-concert tour in Germany, playing in the most prestigious venues of the Kammer Musik Circle; the tour will be repeated in February 2025.
Deeply committed to contemporary music and to expanding the repertoire for string sextet, the Stradivari Sextet has been the dedicatee and première performer of works by Alessandra Bellino, Fabio Massimo Capogrosso, and Riccardo Panfili.

Their debut album—featuring the sextets by Tchaikovsky and Schoenberg and released by VDM Records—was shortlisted for the 2015 Grammy Awards. After their 2018 recording of the two Brahms Sextets for the NovAntiqua label, in January 2025 NovAntiqua will release the ensemble’s third album, featuring music by Ernő Dohnányi and Antonín Dvořák. The Stradivari Sextet is regularly invited to give chamber music masterclasses and serves as Ensemble-in-Residence at “Villa Pennisi in Musica” in Acireale, Catania.