Michael Dittrich was born in Silesia and studied the violin at the Music Academies in Detmold and in Vienna. As a student he was employed as second concertmaster and assistant conductor of the Tubingen Chamber Orchestra and was also a violinist in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, of which he has been a member since 1970.

His career as a conductor was developed under Hans Swarowsky, Karl Oesterreicher, Otmar Suitner and Franco Ferrara and through the advice and friendship of Carlo Maria Giulini. In 1977 he established his own ensemble Bella Musica for the historically correct performance of music from the Baroque, Classical and Biedermeier periods, with concert tours throughout Europe and the Americas. He has served as a guest conductor in Italy, Germany and Austria and given a number of television performances.

Since 1978, his recordings have won six international prizes, including the Diapason d’Or of Radio Luxembourg and the Paris Grand Prix du Disque.

For Marco Polo, Michael Dittrich has mainly contributed to the complete editions of Johann Strauss Jr and Josef Strauss together with the music of one of their great rivals, Carl Michael Ziehrer. For Naxos he directed a recording of Paganini’s Violin Concertos Nos 3 and 4 (with Erno Rósza as soloist) together with a disc of Salieri’s overtures which the Birmingham Post described as “these vibrant accounts”, whilst for Classic FM magazine they are played “so persuasively…that you long to hear a few of these operas complete.”