Simo-Frak_grande

Simone Beneventi
(Reggio Emilia -1982)

Percussionist, awarded the Silver Lion at the 2010 Venice Music Biennale (Repertorio Zero project). His research into sound, design of new instruments and new compositional solutions for percussion has led him to collaborate with important composers, artists and international companies including Barcelona 216, Berlin Piano Percussion, EnsembleKollektiv, Klangforum Wien, mdi, Mosaik, Phace, Prometeo, Sentieri Selvaggi, Zeitkratzer.

He has played with the most prestigious Italian orchestras, including the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Claudio Abbado’s Orchestra Mozart, Spiramirabilis and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

He performs as a soloist interpreter of 20th and 21st century music in Festivals such as Aperto, Autumn Warsaw, Biennale Venice, Biennale Zagreb, Gaida in Vilnius, Huddersfield Contemporary Music, Krakow International, Impuls in Graz, Manca in Nice, Milano Musica, Traiettorie in Parma.

He is a founding member and artistic director of ZAUM_percussion, an ensemble born within the three-year residency (2018-21) of the Milano Musica Festival.

He has released four solo albums under his own name (label Stradivarius) and participated in many other record productions for various European labels.
He has created and performed live original music for dance productions (Aterballetto), theatre (Franco Parenti), silent films (Bela Lugosi’s Dracula) and short films (Catherine van Campen).

He collaborates with the artists of the former Consorzio Produttori Indipendenti: Massimo
Zamboni, Simone Filippi, Giovanni Lindo Ferretti.

After studying at Italian conservatories, he continued his education at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the University of Bologna (DAMS), the Conservatoire National Regional de Paris, the ESMUC in Barcelona and the Hochschule für Musik in Basel.
He is a percussion teacher at the Conservatory of Reggio Emilia and guest lecturer at the Katarina Gurska Academy in Madrid.

He is currently working on a book, still unpublished, that collects more than 250 interviews with the leading composers and performers of percussion music in Italy from the 1950s to the present day.

He lives between Reggio Emilia and Berlin.