Benjamin Grosvenor
"Music flows from his young hands"
Daily Telegraph
At the age of eleven, Benjamin was the outstanding winner of the Keyboard Final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2004. Born in 1992, he is the youngest of five brothers and began studying the piano with his mother at the age of six. At eight years of age he was winning all of his classes at local festivals and at ten he became the youngest ever winner of the Southend Young Musician of the Year, the Essex Young Musician of the Year, the Emanuel Trophy (a national competition for the winners of senior classes at local festivals), and the European Piano Teachers' Association Trophy.
In his final year at primary school Benjamin passed his GCSE in mathematics and also began piano lessons with Hilary Coates and Christopher Elton. As well as his regular studies at school, the Royal Academy of Music has awarded special affiliated scholarship status to Benjamin - something very rarely offered to a student of his age.
Benjamin gave his first full recital, playing both the piano and the cello, in May 2003 at a local church and in November 2003 he made his first concerto appearance, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with the Westcliff High School Orchestra.
Engagements in 2004-05 included recital debuts at St George's, Bristol, and at the Wigmore Hall. In February 2005, Benjamin toured the major cities in Scotland with The Scottish Ensemble, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto K415 and Benjamin Britten’s The Young Apollo. He made debuts at Symphony Hall, Birmingham in April 2005, and at the Barbican in the Mostly Mozart Festival London with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in July 2005.
Benjamin’s first project in 2005-06 was to prepare Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 for his Royal Albert Hall debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of the United Nations. Later in the season Benjamin made both his North and South American concerto debuts with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra in Rio de Janeiro.
During the 2006-07 season, Benjamin prepared Grieg’s Piano Concerto for performances with the Philharmonia and English Chamber Orchestras, shortly after returning to both the Wigmore Hall and St George's, Bristol where he made recital debuts two years earlier. Benjamin's 2007-08 season includes debuts with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia of the Nations, as well as recital appearances at the Bermuda Festival and an extensive tour of Scotland in early 2008. Later in the season, Benjamin looks forward to his debut with the Kymi Sinfonietta under Yasuo Shinozaki, and a return to London's Cadogan Hall with the English Chamber Orchestra.
Benjamin also has an innovative development agreement with EMI whereby he will gain occasional studio experience over the coming years, and will have opportunities to meet and observe other recording artists, as a way of preparing for his own recordings with EMI in the future.
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: Suzanna Ivanic
