Benjamin Grosvenor
Representation: General Management
"Grosvenor’s performance was so alluring, so alive to the music’s poetry, and so colourfully detailed."
Daily Telegraph
Already established at age 17 as one of the most gifted and sought-after young pianists in the world, Benjamin Grosvenor made his Carnegie Hall and Royal Albert Hall debuts aged 13, playing the Ravel G major and Chopin F minor concertos. Early 2010 saw a triumphant Japanese debut with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, highly acclaimed return recitals in the United States, and continues with a 15-concert tour of Germany.
Benjamin first came to prominence as the outstanding winner age 11 of the Keyboard Final of the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition. Enthusiastically received debuts at London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall and Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall followed, with the Daily Telegraph writing that his Mozart Concerto K.415 "was a colourist's dream, with rich dark hues and sparkling fanciful figurations".
Further international debuts followed in Brazil and the Czech Republic in 2006, with the latter performance of Chopin’s F minor Concerto drawing the headline "Genius sets a very high benchmark", the review commenting that "all present knowledgeable of music knew they were hearing a kind of miracle".
Engagements in 2006-07 included return recitals at several venues including the Wigmore Hall, after which the Daily Telegraph lauded Benjamin's "exceptional gifts" in playing that "revealed an imagination of touch, tonal shading, phrasing and dynamics". The 2007-08 season included concerts featuring Chopin’s E minor concerto in Germany, North Carolina, Finland (his Scandinavian debut) and in a UK tour with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Benjamin’s sold-out Royal Festival Hall debut in early 2009 came in a performance of the Grieg Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra that was described in the Daily Telegraph as "an interpretation of palpable character and astute panache". Further acclaim followed Benjamin’s debut with the Ulster Orchestra, with the Irish Times noting that he "brought real freshness to the Grieg, from the impetuous opening to the soulfulness of the slow movement to the sparky finale". Other engagements in 2008-09 included debuts with the RPO and LPO, his chamber music debut at Wigmore Hall and his French recital debut at the Musée du Louvre. He also returned to Finland for performances of the Beethoven 3rd Concerto that drew the headline in the Helsinki Sanomat "Wunderkind dives straight to the heart of the Music", the review continuing "this young man with the air of a sensitive, poetic lad, makes the substance, the heart, the meaning of the music simply flow from the piano...Never before has the meaning of the Largo been more obvious". "His was a performance of tumult and beauty, in which he displayed tremendous technical skill and interpretive depth", wrote the critic of the St. Paul Pioneer press of Benjamin’s return Minnesota recital in February 2010.
Born in July 1992, the youngest of five brothers, Benjamin began piano studies age 6 with his mother, before later receiving lessons with Hilary Coates and Christopher Elton, with whom he now studies at the Royal Academy of Music. He has also taken lessons with Leif Ove Andsnes and Stephen Hough.
In recent years EMI Classics have supported Benjamin through an innovative development agreement. In 2008, Benjamin recorded a mixed recital of shorter works for B&W. This recording has now been released on a CD entitled 'This and That' to overwhelming acclaim, with Gramophone exclaiming "the performances by Benjamin Grosvenor exhibit a skill and talent not heard since Kissin's legendary teenage Russian debut" and International Piano commenting "It is hard to know which is the more startling in a pianist still in his mid-teens: the all-encompassing mastery of technique, or the flair and maturity of imagination. He really is a rare talent". Benjamin’s recordings for the EMI 200th Anniversary Edition of Chopin’s complete works have received accolades in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. Benjamin has been featured in two BBC television documentaries, and his performances have been broadcast widely in the UK, Europe and the USA.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Deborah Gordon
