Simona Castria

She began music at a very young age by learning the piano and later turned to the saxophone, enchanted by its colors and sound. Trained in Italy, Belgium, and France, she champions this multicultural richness in her music. In 2017, she joined the prestigious class of Claude Delangle at the Paris Conservatory in the master's program. Interested in improvised music, she also attended the classes of Vincent Le Quang and Alexandros Markeas. After obtaining her master's degree in 2019, Simona continued to deepen her expertise in creation and contemporary music in Hae-Sun Kang's class and earned a master's degree in pedagogy,completing a journey of artistic and human training.

She performs as a soloist or in chamber ensembles. As the alto saxophone of the Ensemble du Bout du Monde saxophone quartet, Simona is also part of more eclectic groups such as the trio L’Impolie (saxophone, electric guitar, and accordion) and the duo La Frange (saxophone and viola), with which she created the musical show À son Image. She collaborates with various orchestras across Europe such as I Pomeriggi Musicali, Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, and Miroirs É tendus, and has performed under conductors such as Pierre Bleuse, Pierre-André Valade, Julien Leroy, Simon Proust, Léo Margue, and James Feddeck. Drawn to the intersection of the arts, Simona often collaborates with artists from diverse backgrounds, from theatre (Cie Frotter | Frapper, Cie Oceanomare) to dance (Cie Retouramont), and plays with the improvisers of the LIKEN ensemble.

Passionate about contemporary music, she conducts research into the recent repertoire for saxophone and works with today’s emerging composers (Giulia Lorusso, Maël Bailly, Violeta Cruz, Megumi Okuda…) as well as more established ones (Ivan Fedele, Stefano Gervasoni, Alexandros Markeas…).

In recent years, she has won several national and international competitions as a soloist or in chamber music: 6th laureate at the VI Andorra Sax Fest competition, 1st prize at the 1st Aexigentia competition, 1st laureate of the Ferrero Prize, 3rd laureate of the Cantarone Prize, and finalist of the Rosa Ponselle competition.

She has performed in major venues and festivals across Europe and the Americas: Espace Malraux (Chambéry), Philharmonie de Paris, MC2 (Grenoble), Les Quinconces (Le Mans), Le Cratère (Alès), SoundPlasma (Berlin), Teatro Dal Verme (Milan), Manifeste (Paris), Le Centquatre (Paris), Ha Teiva (Tel Aviv), Le Carreau du Temple (Paris), Nuits de Fourvière (Lyon), Klarafestival (Brussels), Andorra Sax Fest 2019, Présences (Radio France), Ensemble(s) (Paris), Météo (Mulhouse), Unerhö rte Musik (Berlin), Franci Festival (Siena), StadtCasino (Basel), Curva Minore (Palermo), 10th New Music Day (Cyprus), Klangbrü cken (Hanover), XV World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, 1st Full Sax Day in Lima, Les Nuits d’É té (Chambéry)...

She is also interested in teaching and strongly believes in music as a means of education. She teaches saxophone at the Conservatory of Gennevilliers and regularly gives masterclasses in higher conservatories across Europe and abroad.

Simona is regularly supported by the Mécénat Musical Société Générale, the Meyer Foundation, the Nguyen Thien Dao Foundation, and the Henri Selmer Paris company.