Born in Bari, Italy, Francesco D’Orazio studied the violin and viola with his father, and then with Carlo Chiarappa and Cristiano Rossi. He also studied with Denes Zsigmondy at the Salzburg Mozarteum and with Yair Kless at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv. He received an art degree from the University of Bari with a thesis on Virgilio Mortari.

Francesco D’Orazio is deeply involved both in early music, as violinist of the l’Astrée Ensemble in Turin, and in modern music, being the favoured performer of many composers. He had a special collaboration with Luciano Berio, and premiered his Divertimento for string trio and also performed Sequenza VIII, and Corale for violin and orchestra, both conducted by the composer. Francesco D’Orazio has performed at the most prestigious concert halls and with many orchestras throughout Europe as well as in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China and Japan.

Francesco D’Orazio has recorded for Decca, Opus 111, Stradivarius and Amadeus. He plays a violin by Giuseppe Guarneri (Cremona, 1711), ‘Comte de Cabriac’.