Andrea Castagna graduated with the highest honours (10/10, honours and special ministerial distinction) under the guidance of Maestro Antonio Anselmi. He subsequently became the first student in Italy to obtain a Second-Cycle Academic Diploma in Musical Disciplines (Violin), graduating with 110 cum laude and presenting a dissertation on Nathan Milstein.

He attended advanced courses with distinguished violinists such as Massimo Quarta and Felix Ayo, as well as with Maestro Alessandro Milani, Concertmaster of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra of Turin. He later continued his studies in Vienna with Maestro Jan Pospichal, Concertmaster of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

He has performed with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra of Turin, the Ensemble Archi della Scala, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, and the Abruzzo Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of conductors such as Fedoseev, Tate, Arming, Pappano, Judd, Bufalini, Windfuhr, Piovano and Mariotti.

He served as Concertmaster of the Viotti Chamber Orchestra, directed by Franco Mezzena, with whom he also appeared as a soloist. In December 2009, with the same ensemble, he performed in the prestigious I Concerti del Quirinale series, broadcast live on Radio Rai 3, alongside Franco Mezzena and Roberto Prosseda as soloists. He also appears on the recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons released by Wide Classique, where, in addition to serving as concertmaster, he performs as soloist with Maestro Mezzena in Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins in A minor (Wide Classique).

He records for the label Wide Classique, for which he has released a CD dedicated to the violin concertos of Haydn with the Interamnia Ensemble Orchestra. The recording received a four-star review from Musica magazine (July–August 2012) and was subsequently highly praised by Suono magazine (October 2013). More recently, the first of five volumes of Viotti’s Duets, recorded with violinist Grazia Raimondi, was released.

In April 2016, the first volume of the complete sonatas for piano and violin by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, recorded with pianist Lorenzo Bavaj, was published. This recording also received unanimous critical acclaim and was awarded four stars by Musica magazine in October 2017. The second volume was released in 2019.

He performs with the Petite Opéra Ensemble Quartet and with the renowned tenor José Carreras, touring extensively in France, Ireland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2018 and 2019, he appeared as soloist with pianist Gloria Campaner in a series of concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of the Metropolitan City of Bari and the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini.

He was awarded the “Annino Di Giacinto” Prize by the City of Teramo in recognition of his contribution to promoting the cultural values of the city and the Abruzzo region worldwide.

Since 2015, he has been a permanent member of the historic Trio di Pesaro.

He is Professor of Chamber Music for String Instruments at the Rossini Conservatoire.

He performs on a 1938 Marino Capicchioni violin.

Socio-Cultural Activities

During 2010–2011, he created and hosted Toccata e Fuga, a radio programme broadcast on Radio Frequenza, the radio station of the University of Teramo.

In 2016–2017, he authored two series of radio broadcasts, Note Parallele and Vite Parallele, for Luigi Picardi’s programme L’Arpeggio on Radio Vaticana.

Since 2019, he has served as President of the Centro Studi “Il Risveglio”, for whose website he writes articles and essays (www.csilrisveglio.com – The Centre is highly active in organising conferences, concerts and book presentations, including the initiatives Formare le Idee, Formare le Note and, most recently, Communitas Cogitationis, a project dedicated to cultural engagement and the promotion of places, ideas and community values).

In September 2020, he was appointed by the Municipality of Teramo to serve on the Board of Directors of the historic Società della Musica e del Teatro “Primo Riccitelli”, a position he continues to hold following his reappointment in May 2023.

In 2022, he wrote the preface to Pagine del Risorgimento Italiano by Marco Rocchi, the first volume published by the Centro Studi “Il Risveglio”, issued by the historic publishing house Carabba Edizioni.