Romulo Benavides began his career in Caracas, Venezuela under the tutelage of Emil Friedman and later at The Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay and Naoko Tanaka, where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Violin Performance. Mr. Benavides worked towards a Masters Degree in Violin Performance at Brooklyn College where he performed master classes for such celebrated violinists as Itzhak Perlman. 1st prize winner of the Juan Bautista Plaza violin competition, Mr. Benavides has won many distinguished awards and scholarships from prestigious institutions such as the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho, and the Aspen Music School. Mr. Benavides has appeared as soloist with the Simon Bolivar Symphony, the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra, the Carabobo Chamber Orchestra, and has performed for the Aspen Music Festival’s Starling Recital Series. His performances have been broadcast on Venezuelan National Television and radio. As a chamber musician, Romulo has performed with the Caracas Virtuosi and has toured Europe, North America and Latin America. Romulo performed regularly with ensembles devoted to 20th century Latin American music, such as the Carpentier Quartet and the Ensemble America of which he was founding member. A Tango enthusiast, Mr. Benavides kept a regular performance schedule with New York City ensembles such as the Tango Porteno with pianist Mauricio Najt and the Frank Valiente Quintet, with whom he made several recordings. Romulo was concertmaster for the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra from 2005 to 2008 and was a featured soloist with the group on various tours , he also made a recording with said ensamble for New World Records, from 2005 to 2011 he was a violinist and arranger for the crossover string quartet Sweet Plantain , performs regularly with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. More recently he plays in a Guitar Violin Duo that focuses on arrangements from the solo violin repertoire.
Mr. Benavides has performed with Leonard Slatkin, JoAnn Falletta, Lynn Harrell, Sergiu Comissiona, Paul Zukofsky among others.
Rómulo Benavides can be heard on iTunes, Amazon Music , Spotify , New World Records and Sony labels.
