Benefactor played spoons at start of recital (7)
I believe the answer is:
sponsor
'benefactor' is the definition.
(I know that benefactor can be written as sponsor)
'played spoons at start of recital' is the wordplay.
'played' indicates an anagram (letters playing around).
'at start of' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'recital' is 'r'.
'spoons' with letters rearranged gives 'sponso'.
'sponso'+'r'='SPONSOR'
(Other definitions for sponsor that I've seen before include "surety" , "One giving money in support of an event" , "One financially supporting an activity" , "One who pays costs for event" , "A godfather or patron" .)