Martín Benvenuto, Artistic Director

Martín Benvenuto is one of the leading treble choir conductors in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he has been Artistic Director for WomenSing (WS) since 2002. Active as a clinician, panelist, and guest conductor, Benvenuto is also Artistic Director for the Peninsula Women’s Chorus (PWC), has served on the faculty of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir for eight years, and has recently been appointed Artistic Director of the Contra Costa Children’s Chorus.

Recognized for his exacting technique, and a passion for drawing the finest choral tone, Benvenuto’s repertoire is extensive. In addition to the historical repertoire, his choirs are dedicated to commissioning new works from composers such as Libby Larsen, Chen Yi, Stacy Garrop, Charles Griffin, Cristián Grases, Judith Shatin, Frank Ferko, Brian Holmes, and David Conte.

“Choral music is a sort of rebelliousness, a movement against an artistic or political status quo. And what better way is there than a choral setting to surrender your ego to a good cause? People not only give of their time, they also give up their cherished medium of individual expression, the voice. You have to abandon its narcissism for the well being of the whole ensemble. In this day and age, when there is so little selflessness, choral singing is socially a very healthy activity.” Martín Benvenuto

His choirs have earned high marks in international competitions in Argentina, South Africa, Canada, Hungary, and Spain. Of particular note are the Third Prize awarded to the PWC at the 2006 Béla Bártok International Choir Competition, one of the most prestigious in the European circuit, and the 2010 Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker award, which recognized WomenSing for programming recently-composed music that expanded the mission of the chorus and challenged the chorus’s audience in new ways. Benvenuto highly values artistic collaborations: his choirs have collaborated with Veljo Tormis, Joseph Jennings, Karmina Silec and Carmina Slovenica, Charles Bruffy, California Shakespeare Theater, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and the Golden Gate Men’s Chorus.

Benvenuto has prepared choirs for organizations such as the San Francisco Opera, the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the Redwood Symphony, and the Kronos Quartet in works by Bach, Monteverdi, Britten, Mahler, Holst, Stravinsky, and Orff. Benvenuto also regularly appears as tenor soloist with leading Bay Area ensembles.

Benvenuto holds a D.M.A. in choral conducting from Boston University, where he studied with Ann Howard Jones and the late Robert Shaw. He earned his master’s degree from Westminster Choir College, majoring both in Choral Conducting and Voice Performance and Pedagogy. His undergraduate degrees in choral conducting and composition are from the Universidad Católica Argentina.

Paul Caccamo, Associate Music Director and Pianist

Pianist Paul Caccamo is an uncommonly versatile performer, leading an active career in the Bay Area as accompanist, vocal coach, chamber musician, conductor, orchestral pianist and recording artist.

Over the past twenty years as a professional musician, Paul has played on stages all over the world as a solo and collaborative pianist, presenting recitals with singers and instrumentalists of every kind. He has accompanied multiple Bay Area choral groups and opera companies, including the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Festival Opera, West Bay Opera, Open Opera, and Oakland Opera Theater. Currently Paul serves as Associate Music Director and pianist for WomenSing, accompanies the Contra Costa Childrens Chorus, and works as accompanist and vocal coach for the five choirs at Campolindo High School, where he has been since 2002.

Paul received a BS in Food Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1991, and a MM in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music in 1998, where he studied with Jean Barr.