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Roberto De Simone (Naples, August 25, 1933 - Naples, April 6, 2025) was an Italian theater director, composer, and musicologist. He was the grandson of stage and film actor Roberto De Simone and began studying piano at the age of six. In 1946, he enrolled at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella in Naples, where he performed Mozart's Piano Concerto K. 466 and later Beethoven's Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, earning recognition as one of the most deserving students in Italy. In 1957, De Simone began a concert career while also exploring the popular music traditions of Campania. He later shifted his focus entirely to music, studying humanities at the University of Naples Federico II. His work in television and theater included compositions for productions such as Sophocles' Oedipus the King and The Long Night of Medea. In 1967, he co-founded the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare with Giovanni Mauriello, Eugenio Bennato, and Carlo d'Angiò, focusing on the recovery of Campania's popular music traditions. His work emphasized both oral and written traditions, involving field research to gather lost cultural elements. Notable performances included a rereading of the Cantata dei Pastori in 1974 and La Gatta Cenerentola in 1976, which garnered success but also led to tensions within the group.

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