Simone Pirri (violin)
Born in October 1994, Simone Pirri is a young and engaging violinist from Pescara, Italy, currently based in London, who specialises in period instrument performance. Following a Bachelor of Music degree with the highest marks in Violin Performance at Conservatorio Luisa D’Annunzio in Pescara (2012), Simone moved to the United Kingdom to pursue his postgraduate studies in early music and focus on historical performance practice with world leading experts such as Rachel Podger, Simon Standage and Nicolette Moonen. He has got a Master of Arts with Distinction in Historical Performance from the Royal Academy of Music in London (2016) and a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction in Historical Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff (2017).
A sought-after soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player, Simone has performed with Arcangelo, La Nuova Musica, Brecon Baroque, Collegium 1704, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Holland Baroque, Dutch Baroque Orchestra and appeared as soloist with Il Pomo d’Oro and Ensemble Diderot. He has led groups such as Oxford Bach Soloists, Eboracum Baroque, Welsh Camerata, Ensemble Corte Armonica, Badinerie, the Royal Academy of Music Baroque Orchestra and worked with many of the world’s leading early music specialists such as Rachel Podger, Reinhard Goebel, Giovanni Antonini, Vaclav Luks, Masaaki Suzuki, Maxim Emelyanychev, Laurence Cummings and Chiara Banchini.
Simone was the winner of London’s Nancy Nuttall Early Music Prize for two consecutive years (2014 and 2015) and has received funding awards by The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Loan Fund for Musical Instruments, The Gane Trust, The Kirsten Scott Memorial Trust and Help Musicians UK. He has given solo performances at Bristol International Festival of Music, Bozsok Music Festival (Hungary), St. George Hanover Square for London Bach Society, Acapela Studios (Cardiff), Dartington Great Hall and Conservatorio Luisa D’Annunzio (Pescara). Together with own ensemble FIGO, Simone has performed at the Exon Singers Festival, Brighton Early Music Festival, Newbury Spring Festival, Wigmore Hall for the “Crying Out Loud” series, Hexham Abbey Festival, Brecon Baroque Festival and appeared live on BBC Radio 4. He was recipient of the Belsize Baroque Leader Scholarship 2018/2019, a participant of the 2019 Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment “Ann and Peter Law Experience for Young Players” and is currently a “Samama Fellow” with Holland Baroque. Simone is also very much looking forward to being a Handel House Talent 2019/2020 at Handel & Hendrix in London.
Simone plays on a Pietro Paolo De Vitor (1730-1740, Venice) on generous loan from the Harrison-Frank Family Foundation.
