Benny Aghassi was born in Rehovot, Israel, in 1978. He began his recorder studies with Bracha Kol. During his studies at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem he won the Woodwind Concerto Competition and the Early Music Competition. He received his Bachelor of Music degree at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he studied with Sébastien Marq (recorder) and Donna Agrell (historical bassoon), and completed his Masters degree (‘cum laude’) with Heiko ter Schegget at The Conservatory of Utrecht. He currently plays with orchestras such as Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the 18th century (Frans Brüggen), The Netherlands Bach Society (Jos van Veldhoven), Musica ad Rhenum (Jed Wentz), Holland Baroque Society and Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ton Koopman). In 2005 he won two first prizes in the ‘Aviv Competitions’ in Tel-Aviv for Early Music Instruments, and Best Performance of an Israeli Work. He has held a grant from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation between 1997-2005. He lives in The Hague and teaches historical bassoon at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He loves dark chocolate, the sun & the sea and his 10 nephews and nieces.