Born in St. Gallen, Switzerland (1994), Massimo Raoul Beckers started playing music from an early age onwards, among others on the piano and the guitar. He moved to the Netherlands at the age of nine.
After graduating as a Bachelor of Arts & Culture at the University of Maastricht (2017), he became a specialized Master of Musicology with his final thesis Shaping the Soundscape History (2018), as well as several papers on music in Islamic mysticism and traditional Sufi rituals. Afterwards he graduated as composer at the Utrechts Conservatory of Music ‘with honors’ (2022) and as conductor at the Meerjarige Dirigentenopleiding (2022), where he was allowed to skip the first two years of his studies and immediately enter into the exam-year class.
Massimo conducted orchestras such as the Siamo Orchestra, Westerkamerorkest, Zeister Phiharmonisch Orkest, Kennemer Consort, Kamerorkest Driebergen, Baarns Kamerorkest Artoni, Orkest Crescendo Leersum, Vechtstreek Symfonieorkest, Larens Kamerorkest, Symfonieorkest Valse Romantique, Orkest van het Groene Hart and the wind section of the Utrechts Studenten Koor en Orkest. He has led choirs such as the Utrechtse Studentencantorij, Zeister Mannenkoor, Stichts Mannenkoor, MDO-koor, Masjiach, Lastage Koor Amsterdam and Leidsche Rijn Koor.
He has attended masterclasses with Jorma Panula, John Axelrod, JoAnn Falletta, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Jim Benjamin Roodnat and Jean-Luc Tingaud. He is also taking orchestral conducting classes with René Gulikers.
Furthermore, Massimo has taught hundreds of students as a teacher in many different musical disciplines, like composition, music theory, solfeggio/ear-training, artistic coaching & (classical) guitar and bass guitar. More info about his lessons can be found here.
Photo: Merel Gros