The musical vein of artist Rita Figueiredo began it’s pulse early on. At age 14, the young girl, born in São Paulo began to study voice. Graduating in 1995 from Universidade Livre de Música in Opera. (Linked to the Sao Paulo State Music School of Tom Jobim) (EMESP). 

​

In parallel at age 11, Rita began studying animation at one of the most renowned schools for animation in São Paulo, Núcleo de Arte, where she graduated by the age of 16. At 17, she had already begun working professionally with animation at the HGN studio, as assistant animator using traditional animation techniques on paper for the production of Disney TV series’ such as Winnie the Pooh and Aladdin. At 21, Rita became an art director, animation director and coordinator/producer of the 2D Animation Department for Vector Zero, the largest computer graphics production company in Latin America. After she soon became a valuable asset to principle Television Networks and Production companies in Brazil such as Nickelodeon, MTV, TV Cultura, Tv Globo, Lobo, O2 Filmes and many others. Which afforded her the opportunity to participate in hundreds of diverse and rewarding projects. 

 

In the field of music, to further hone in her skills as a musician, she moved from classical to popular music singing school of vocal training and started to study guitar. In her 20’s she was writing songs, recording demos and performing in different jazz clubs and cultural centers in her hometown, Sao Paulo. The first opportunity to launch her original work came in 2011, when she won the Cultural Action Program (ProAC) Award from the Secretary of Culture of Sao Paulo, which fully funded the creation of her first record.
 

The album received many accolades in the press and in particular made the top 20 best albums of 2013 in Brazil by Ed Felix (Melhores da música brasileira) and Na Mira do Groove by Tiago Ferreira.

​

In 2015 Rita moved to New York and in 2018 she released her second album entitled "Benji & Rita" with 14 songs in partnership with New York composer, arranger, singer and guitarist Benji Kaplan. The album was very well received by music journalists and   many good reviews in the news paper and magazines in Brazil and U.S. The album made the list of top rated albums of Downbeat Magazine in 2019. From 2018 to 2021 she  played in several cities in the USA, Brazil and Europe touring with Benji & Rita. 

 

Rita created and produced many animated music videos for many of Benji & Rita's songs during the pandemic. These videos were selected by dozens of festivals around the world and awarded at festivals such as NYC Indie Film Awards (USA), Calcutta International Cult Film Festival (India), Rome Prisma Film Awards (Italy), Nawada International Film Festival (India), Cinemafest (USA), Deep Focus Film Festival (USA) and Funarte Respirarte Award (Brazil).

 

This year 2023, Rita is producing and recording her new EP with her songs and a new Benji & Rita album to be released in early 2024.