Monica Benvenuti

Monica Benvenuti: Born in Florence, graduated in humanistic studies and philosophy. From 1993, the year of her debut as the protagonist of L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa and at the Teatro Sociale di Mantova, and of Zanetto by Mascagni at the Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago, she has performed (always as the lead role) operas by: Monteverdi, Peri, Emilio de' Cavalieri, Purcell, Blow, Rossi, Haendel, Pergolesi, Cimarosa, Mozart, Salieri, Spontini, Humperdinck, Wolf-Ferrari.

She also dedicated herself to chamber and symphonic repertoires, with works by Mozart, Rossini, Beethoven, Wagner, Mahler, Messiaen, Dallapiccola.
Later, she has developed a specific interest in music from the 20th century as well as contemporary, which has brought her to explore the potential of the human voice in relation to various musical languages and also to electronic experimentations. He has given concerts in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary , Japan (Tokyo, Suntory Hall), Brazil, U.S.A., often playing music dedicated to her. In 2004 she was invited by Sylvano Bussotti as the protagonist in the production of La Passion selon Sade at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, under the direction of Arturo Tamayo. In 2007 she performed again Bussotti's opera Silvano/Sylvano, at the Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome, in a role specifically written for her. Then, she played Bussotti many more times: the live musical performance for the Rara film (Bologna, 2008), Furioso di Amneris , Ulrica , Eboli , Azucena e delle streghe in Milan (2013) and in Lugano (2016), the entire cycle of lyrics for voice and piano Quasi la fantasia (Paris 2016).
For the past few years, after extensive experience as a singer-actress – including a performance with the famous actress Milena Vukotič based on the tragedies of Sofocle - she has dedicated herself to a repertoire of music theatre which includes operas such as La voix humaine by Poulenc, Mahagonny Songspiel by Weill, La tragèdie de Carmen by Bizet, Giorno di nozze by Gino Negri, along with works specifically composed for her.
In the last years she performed Acustica, Pas de Cinq and Der Turm zu Babel by Mauricio Kagel , and Como una ola de fuerza y luz by Luigi Nono, for the opening concert of the Symphonic Orchestra of Rome, various editions of Pierrot Lunaire by Schoenberg - in 2011 in scenic form for the Concert Society of Bolzano - as well as many vocal works by John Cage. In 2017 in Milan she performed Le Marteau sans maître by Boulez.
In January 2014 she began collaborating with the Voxnova Italia group, with whom he performs - among others - Stimmung and Pole by Stockhausen, in Santa Monica (California), at the Roma Europa Festival, at the Angelica Festival in Bologna, in Stockholm, Ulm, and during a residency at the Music Department of the University of Buffalo (USA). Also with Voxnova in 2015 she sang in the first performance of In the midst of things by Gene Coleman at the Venice Biennale, in 2018 Mains Hum by David Lang MAXXI Museum in Rome and Feliseti Mekidesi by Elliot Sharp for the Ruhr Triennale festival of Bochum. In 2015 she recorded for Sheva Collection Richard Strauss: an unusual portrait, with the pianist Giuseppe Bruno, and in 2016 - in collaboration with Tempo Reale the Ema Records - two live CDs dedicated to Open Music from the seventies to today; again for Ema Records, in 2017 she recorded a CD dedicated to the vocal compositions by Alessandra Bellino entitled "Volubile e leggiera".