Salvatore Castellano

A native Sicilian, Salvatore Castellano has earned degrees from the conservatories of Palermo, Milan, Lyon, and Basel under the guidance of Gaetano Costa, Mario Marzi, Jean-Denis Michat, and Marcus Weiss. His background spans classical performance, jazz, and free improvisation, all informing his dynamic approach to contemporary music and original repertoire.

A dedicated advocate for new creation, Salvatore has closely collaborated with composers such as Beat Furrer, Giorgio Netti, Peter Eötvös, Mauro Lanza, Marco Momi, Simone Movio, and Luca Francesconi. Since 2017, he has been a member of Milan’s mdi ensemble, and is a founding force in the saxophone quartets Vagues Quartet and Ensemble du Bout du Monde. 

Salvatore has performed with major orchestras and opera houses, including Teatro alla Scala and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, under the batons of Riccardo Chailly, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and Sir Antonio Pappano. He participated in Warner Music recordings of Bernstein’s works conducted by Pappano, and as a soloist, his discography includes music by Berio, Francesconi, and Gervasoni.

He appears regularly at festivals such as the Festival dei Due Mondi, Les Amplitudes, Milano Musica, Klangbrücken Hannover, and Curva Minore. Winner of multiple performance awards, he has received scholarships from the Dienemann and Richard Wagner Foundations. Salvatore teaches saxophone at the Civica Scuola di Musica “C. Abbado” in Milan and the Conservatorio “G. Frescobaldi” in Ferrara.