Francesca Turcato

A violinist and violist from Venice, she began studying the violin at the age of five and continued her training at the Conservatory of Venice under Maestros Giulio Bonzagni and Stefano Zanchetta, graduating in 2006.

Alongside this, she devoted herself to early music, including performance on original instruments, studying with Cinzia Barbagelata, and later graduated in viola from the Conservatory of Vicenza under Davide Zaltron. She further refined her skills with violinists Anahi Carfi (La Scala) and Roberto Ranfaldi (RAI), and attended masterclasses with violists Danilo Rossi (La Scala) and Julia Gartemann (Berliner Philharmoniker).

In chamber music, formative encounters included Oliver Wille, Reiner Schmidt, Dirk Mommertz, and Eberhard Feltz. In 2017 she obtained a Master’s Degree in Chamber Music from the Musikhochschule Hannover.

A chamber musician by vocation, she has performed in numerous prestigious venues across Europe alongside artists such as Valentin Erben (cellist of the legendary Alban Berg Quartet), Bruno Canino, Alberto Ferro, Miriam Prandi, Avi Avital, Uri Caine, Davide Formisano, Massimo Mercelli, Julian Bliss, and Derek Bermel. From 2012 to 2020 she was violist of the Quartetto Indaco.

She collaborates as principal viola with several Italian ensembles and orchestras, including the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Orchestra Arturo Toscanini, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana, Milano Classica Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera di Perugia, Orchestra da Camera di Venezia, Buxus Consort, La Follia Barocca, and the ensemble LaBarocca.

As section viola, she has also collaborated with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, the Haydn Orchestra of Trento and Bolzano, and the Orchestra Leonore.

In 2018 she was personally chosen by Ezio Bosso as principal viola and soloist of the Stradivari Chamber Orchestra and the Europe Philharmonic Orchestra, leading an intense concert activity and recording for Sony, Rai 3, and Rai 5.

She is currently professor of viola at the Conservatorio “S. Giacomantonio” in Cosenza, Italy. She plays a viola by Frédéric Chaudière (2000).

She will participate in Trame Sonore 2026 as a soloist and as a member of the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova.