Benjamin Hochman & English Chamber Orchestra
Biography Benjamin Hochman & English Chamber Orchestra
Benjamin Hochman
Pianist and conductor Benjamin Hochman’s eloquent and virtuosic performances blend colorful artistry with poetic interpretation exciting audiences and critics alike. Winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2011, Mr. Hochman has established a vibrant international musical presence through concerts with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver and Jerusalem Symphonies, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), Prague Philharmonia, Istanbul State Orchestra, and his Carnegie Hall debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
An impassioned and intelligent exponent of diverse composers, from Bach and Mozart to Kurtág and Lieberson, he strives to express the essence of each composer’s works, resulting in performances about which the New York Times wrote “Classical music doesn’t get better than this.” Possessed of an intellectual and heartfelt musical inquisitiveness, Mr. Hochman frequently juxtaposes familiar works with the unfamiliar in his concert programs to help illuminate each work for the listener, a talent further illustrated by his thoughtful recorded repertoire.
A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard Conducting Program where he studied with Alan Gilbert, he has also attended the Tanglewood Conducting Seminar, performed in masterclasses for Fabio Luisi and David Zinman, and served as musical assistant to Louis Langrée at the 2016 Mostly Mozart festival. The founder and music director of the Roosevelt Island Orchestra in New York City, he has conducted the Orlando Philharmonic, Santa Fe Pro Musica and The Orchestra Now.
Born in Jerusalem, Benjamin Hochman began his studies at the Conservatory of the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Mannes College of Music where his principal teachers were Claude Frank and Richard Goode. He has recorded for Artek, Avie and Bridge Records. A Steinway Artist, Mr. Hochman is on the piano faculty of Bard College Conservatory of Music and lives in New York City.
The English Chamber Orchestra
is one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras. Since its establishment in 1960, the ECO has performed in more countries than any other orchestra and played with the world’s greatest musicians. With a discography of over 1,500 works, it is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world.
The ECO’s illustrious history features many major musical figures, including Benjamin Britten, who was the orchestra’s first Patron and a significant musical influence. The orchestra’s long relationship with such great musicians as Slava Rostropovich, Pinchas Zukerman, and earlier with Daniel Barenboim led to an acclaimed complete cycle of Mozart piano concertos as live performances and recordings, followed later by two further recordings of the complete cycle, with Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida. The orchestra’s film and TV work includes recording Dario Marianelli’s prizewinning scores for Atonement and Pride and Prejudice and several James Bond soundtracks. Under the patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales, the ECO has performed at many royal events, including the first concert ever to be broadcast from Buckingham Palace. The ECO continues to build upon its tradition of maintaining the highest international musical standards, nurturing new talent and focussing on the ‘best of British’ music and musicianship, as well as being the chamber orchestra of choice for many of the world’s greatest soloists.
