Di Vittorio began music studies with his father Giuseppe in Italy before studying composition with Ludmila Ulehla and Giampaolo Bracali at the Manhattan School of Music in the U.S. He also studied conducting with Giampaolo Bracali, Francesco Carotenuto, and the late Piero Bellugi in Italy.
In 2007, Di Vittorio was invited by Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli (Respighi's great nieces) and Potito Pedarra (Respighi archive curator and cataloguer) to edit, orchestrate and complete several early works of Respighi including the first Violin Concerto for publication with Edizioni Panastudio and Casa Ricordi in Italy. He premiered and then recorded three of these editions together with his own Overtura Respighiana and first two program symphonies with the Chamber Orchestra of New York for Naxos Records[3] in 2010. These first recordings were released in 2011.
Other restorations of include: Respighi's 1908 orchestration of Claudio Monteverdi's ‘Lamento di Arianna’ (from the lost opera Arianna, 1608) edited in 2012 and Di Vittorio's completion of Respighi's orchestration of the ‘Tre Liriche’ (Three Art Songs, 1913) edited for its centennial anniversary in 2013. In 2019, Di Vittorio completed the first printed edition of Respighi's second Violin Concerto ‘all'Antica’. With Chamber Orchestra of New York, Di Vittorio went on to record the Violin Concerto ‘all'Antica’ in 2019 alongside Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances Suites and the mezzo songs in 2021, again, for Naxos Records.
In November 2012, Di Vittorio gave the world premiere of his Sinfonia No. 3 ‘Templi di Sicilia’ in his debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana at the Teatro Politeama in Palermo and was interviewed by RAI. The program also included the European Premieres of Di Vittorio's Overtura Respighiana and Respighi's First Concerto per Violino (in La Maggiore). Di Vittorio was awarded the Medal of Palermo from Mayor Leoluca Orlando who "recognized the great importance of Di Vittorio's work as a promoter of the city of Palermo around the world".[4]
During the summer of 2016, Salvatore Di Vittorio became the first Italian composer to be invited to donate an autograph manuscript to The Morgan Library & Museum music archive. La Villa d'Este a Tivoli was composed in 2015 for the Morgan on the occasion of its exhibition City of the Soul: Rome and the Romantics, June 2016.[6]
In late 2018, Di Vittorio completed his Sinfonia N. 4 ‘Metamorfosi’ (Metamorphoses), based on Ovid's Metamorphoses and three Italian paintings related to the story. In June 2021, Naxos released a second album of Di Vittorio's music that includes several world premiere recordings, including the new fourth symphony. Decca Classics released two recordings in 2021 involving Di Vittorio's published restorations of Respighi's works. The London Philharmonic released a recording of Nebbie from Tre Liriche under conductor Renato Balsadonna and tenor Freddie de Tommaso, and Teatro Alla Scala Opera Orchestra recorded Aria for strings under conductor Riccardo Chailly.[7]
Between the 2021/2022 and 2024/2025 seasons, Di Vittorio premieres his Viaggi di Enea (Voyages of Aeneas) as one of two commissions for the Teatro Massimo Opera Orchestra[8] in Palermo - the second, his Metamorphosis Symphony under his baton at the opera house.
Di Vittorio is published by Panastudio in Palermo, under exclusive distributor Casa Ricordi in Milan, Italy. His orchestral works are also listed in Daniel's Orchestral Music compendium.[9]
Sinfonia No. 2 "Lost Innocence", per orchestra (1997/Revised 2000)
Sinfonia No. 1 "Isolation", per orchestra d'archi (1994/Revised 1999)
Elegy, per orchestra (Movement IV from Sinfonia No. 2) (1996)
Preludio, per orchestra d'archi (Movement I from Sinfonia No. 1) (1994)
Transcriptions and revisions of orchestral music of Ottorino Respighi
Berceuse per archi (1902/Edited 2022)
Violin Concerto "all'Antica" (1908/Edited 2019)
Tre Liriche, per mezzo-sorprano e orchestra (1913/Orchestration Completed 2013) [Version for soprano (or tenore) and orchestra completed and published in 2020.]
Lamento di Arianna, per mezzosoprano e orchestra (1908/Edited 2012) [Monteverdi - Respighi]
Serenata, per piccola orchestra (1904/Edited 2012)
Suite in Sol Maggiore, per archi ed organo (1905/Edited 2011)
