Renato Negri, born in Reggio Emilia in 1968, has graduated in Organ at the Music Academy “Arrigo Boito” under the guidance of Prof. Stefano Innocenti. He attended the Improvement Liturgical Music Course at the Italian Episcopal Conference in Rome and participated in interpretation courses held by Harald Vogel and André Isoir organized by the Academy of Italian Organ Music in Pistoia. From 1995 to 2001 he was appointed, with a regular fixed-term employment contract of indefinite duration – for the first time in an Italian parish – as organist, Kapellmeister and sacristan at the church of San Francesco da Paola in Reggio Emilia. President of the Italian Association of Church Organists from 1998 to 2007, Renato Negri has been engaged for years in the activity of concerts, participating intensely in the musical life of his city and performing on several occasions in Italy and abroad, both as soloist and continuist. Among his repertoire stands out the entire execution organ, in a single evening, of the Art of the Fugue BWV 1080 by Johann Sebastian Bach. In 2007 he performed alongside with ensemble in the Theatre of the Foundation “Arturo Toscanini” in Parma. As choirmaster and at organist (organ builted by Pierpaolo Bigi in the church of San Francesco da Paola in Reggio Emilia, welcomed in the guide Orgelführer Europe) he created and curated a concert season. In 2005, with the initiative of the Municipality Culture Department in Reggio Emilia and the Office of Cultural Heritage of the Diocese of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla, Soli Deo Gloria. Organs, Sounds and Voices of the City was born: a new, larger and more qualified overview where Renato Negri has been artistic director. This festival hosted biggest names like Gustav Leonhardt, Simon Preston, Ton Koopman, Trevor Pinnock, Andreas Staier, Bob van Asperen, Sigiswald Wieland Kuijken, Patxi Montero, Ottavio Dantone, Jürgen Essl, Christophe Rousset, Daniel Oyarzabal, Olga Pashchenko, Marco Rizzi, Christoph Hammer, Jean Guillou, Michel Chapuis , André Isoir, Olivier Latry, Michael Radulescu, Roberto Cognazzo, Daniel Chorzempa, Wolfgang Rübsam, Pierre Bardon, Pierre Hantaï, Hopkinson Smith, Gabriele Cassone, Wijnand van de Pol, Enrico Gatti, Bruce Dickey, Pieter-Jan Belder, Rudolf Ewerhart, Arnoldo Foa, Bruce Dickey, James E. Goettsche, Roberto Gini, Liuwe Tamminga, Ullrich Böhme, Kenneth Gilbert, Lionel Rogg, Andrea Griminelli, Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante, I Virtuosi Italian, Tölzer Knabenchor, Ensemble of the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Orchestra University of Regensburg, Italian Philharmonic Soloists, Choir of Friuli Venezia Giulia Hungarian Orchestra Capella Savaria, Berlin Ensemble Soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic and many others. In 2009 he created the spiritual concert "The Confessions of St. Augustine" held in the Church of Reggio Emilia Cathedral with the narrator Alessandro Preziosi and the music performed by the ensemble laReverdie. In 2010 he conceived, concerted and directed the choir and instrumental ensemble Capella Regiensis for the concert held on the Cathedral of Reggio Emilia “Pasolini Plays Bach. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini” with the actor Daniele Salvo and with images from Pier Paolo Pasolini’s films. In 2006 Renato Negri was appointment as titular organist in the Municipal Theatre “Romolo Valli”, where is located the historic Montesanti organ (1815) and also has to his credit some recordings on CD dedicated to J. S. Bach. From 1996 to 2011 he was cultural operatori at the Department of Culture and University of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia with the duties related to organization, coordination and promotion of all musical activities organized in partnership or sponsored by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. In the Cathedral of Modena he has had the honor of accompanying, as organist, the flutist Andrea Griminelli during the funeral of Luciano Pavarotti. In 2008 he directed the Mass in B Minor by JS Bach with the Choir of Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Hungarian orchestra Capella Savaria. In 2009 he founded and directed the Capella Regiensis (Cappella Musicale di Reggio Emilia), with whom he is dedicating himself mainly to the execution of the Bach Cantatas. In 2010, concert master of the harpsichord in the Magnificat, BWV 243a and the cantata BWV 80 by Bach with the Regional Orchestra of Emilia Romagna and the Choir of Friuli Venezia Giulia, works performed in Reggio Emilia, Cortina d'Ampezzo and the Basilica della Steccata in Parma. In 2012 he held the concert "The organ miracle", playing the organ in church – after the great earthquake – in Rivara (San Felice sul Panaro, Modena) with the public placed in an outdoor marquee where a large screen that was set up. Many of his performances were presented by Paolo Terni to the Nation Culture Radio Broadcasting. Following the donation from the Ovi-Chichi family in 2007 of one Hillebrand’s organ, Renato Negri now teaches Organ at the Higher Institute of Musical Studies of Reggio Emilia and Castelnovo ne’ Monti and for the same Institute he’s a collaborator in Management Secretariat for the organization of activities.