Meet a Berklee legend turned tech wizard
Italian-born Stefano Genova ran underground music clubs out of his apartment at Berklee College of Music, where he spent his days playing bass and learning how to represent artists and broker record deals. A native of Italy who moved to the U.S. in 2015, Stefano came to America on scholarship, and majored in music business and composition. His destiny for a music career seemed clear…until inspiration hit.
Creating an Underground Club
“I experienced this story of transformation,” Stefano says. “I felt the urge to be in charge of the big picture: not just getting on a stage playing music and calling it a day, but being in charge of the production and every aspect of that interplay between the show and the event. I had this insane idea of basically running a music club out of my apartment in Boston. So, I started this very DIY, not very legal, series of events in my own place!”
Stefano went all-in. These weren’t your stereotypical college parties. He strategized the music, visual arts, and even the food he’d serve down to the last crumb. Before long, crowds of 250 Berklee students were cramming into his apartment on weekends to enjoy the most underground club scene in town.
“My goal was to create this situation where people forgot where they were and really let creativity flow and humanity flow. There were no boundaries, no prejudices,” Stefano says.
Stefano hosted more than 40 of these events during his college years, telling attendees to “Take off their shoes and their prejudice” at the door. Today, there are still rumors about the club that once was, and Stefano is a local legend on the Berklee campus!
From Music to Tech
In 2019, Stefano decided to take his event side-hustle to the next level. He moved to New York City to pursue a career as an event producer and landed an internship at Eventique. In those early days, not even a broken leg could keep him away from an event site!
Today, Stefano digs deep to find up-and-coming technologies that helps Eventique clients realize their most ambitious event goals.
One of his recent discoveries was a holographic media device that allowed the investment company Schroders to “beam” their CEO across the country for a town hall event in a 4K life-sized holographic display. The hologram was streamed live and incredibly realistic.
“When people saw it they were like, ‘Oh wait, is there a person in that box?’” Stefano recalls. Thanks to this technology, Schroders’ CEO was able to attend the event while staying true to the company’s goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 2030. Stefano has also played a key role incorporating high-tech aspects, like NFTs, into Eventique’s events for NFT.NYC and beyond.
Today, Stefano’s home still doubles as an event space, just like it did in his college days. When he isn’t working,he’s busy inviting musicians from around the country to perform at live studio sessions in his basement!
“I feel music is really stimulating to my creative process,” he says.
