Mr. DiAdamo was
a member of the
Syracuse Sym-
phony and Rochester Phil-harmonic Or-
chestra, and was a member of the first
violin section of the Pittsburgh Sym-
phony Orchestra since 1968 until his re-
cent retirement. Mr. DiAdamo became
concertmaster of the Edgewood Sym-
phony Orchestra in 1994 where he has
appeared numerous times as soloist. He
is active in chamber music performance
and violin coaching in Pittsburgh.
DiAdamo began studying violin at age
eight in his home town of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania with Armand DiCamillo of
the Philadelphia Orchestra, and later
with Jani Szanto at the Philadelphia Mu-
sical Academy. He became concertmas-
ter of the All-Phila. Senior High School
Orchestra when he was a student at
SPHS and was a member of the Philadel-
phia Youth Orchestra. He won a schol-
arship to the Eastman School of Music
where he studied violin with Joseph
Knitzer and Carroll Glenn, earning a
Bachelor’s degree in Musical Perform-
ance and Music Education. He began his
professional career at the Taos School of
Music in New Mexico, performing in the
faculty string quartet and coaching
chamber music. He began his orchestral
career with the Syracuse Symphony and
the Rochester Philharmonic. In 1968 he
accepted a position in the first violin sec-
tion with the Pittsburgh Symphony Or-
chestra under William Steinberg. He
founded the Amati String Trio, which
subsequently won the Pittsburgh Concert
Society Competition in 1981.The fol-
lowing year he was soloist with David
Stock’s New Music Ensemble in Pitts-
burgh and at Symphony Space in New
York City, performing Thomas Jansen’s
“The Harlequin for Richard DiAdamo.”
He plays a violin made by Helmuth
Keller of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.