Achille Simonetti (12 June 1857 – 19 November 1928) was a prominent Italian violinist and composer, mainly resident in England and Ireland.
Born in Turin on 12 June 1857,[1] Simonetti left his family in Bologna (this can be gleaned from his letter to Mr Hill (of Hills and Sons) written in 1922,[2]) and completed his studies under Francesco Bianchi, Eugenio Cavallini, Giuseppe Gamba, Charles Dancla (regarded as the last exponent of the classical French school of violin playing),[3] and Camillo Sivori, the last pupil of Niccolo Paganini.
He became part of the first London Trio, an endeavour which occupied him from 1901 to 1912,[7] along with cellist William Whitehouse and pianist Amina Goodwin.
[8] From 1912 to 1919, he was a professor of violin at the Royal Irish Academy of Music,[6] and served as a teacher for many distinguished violinists, including Walter Starkie.
Simonetti was also an early champion of the Brahms Violin Concerto, and wrote a cadenza for the work.