Benjamin SwartzCellist Benjamin Swartz hails from Richmond, VA, and has concertized extensively in the United States and Europe with a particular emphasis on historically-informed performance, electroacoustic collaboration, and the exposure of neglected repertoire. Equally at home on cello, Baroque cello, and viola da gamba, he is gaining increased recognition for multi-instrumental virtuosity spanning the Ars Subtilior to the present day.
An honors graduate of the double-degree program at Johns Hopkins University (BA/MA, American history) and Peabody Conservatory (BMus, cello), Ben was a recipient of both the Peabody Career Grant and the Johns Hopkins Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Fellowship. As a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, he studied the historically-informed performance practice of the Bach Cello Suites with Anner Bijlsma and Pieter Wispelweij on period and modern instruments, respectively, in Amsterdam, Holland. Ben later earned his postgraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London (MMus with Merit in cello and historical performance) where he was awarded the coveted Nancy Nuttall Early Music Prize. Ben recently returned from a year in Karlsruhe, Germany, as a Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst Stipendiat (DAAD Scholar) where he researched music theory (proportional ratio systems of extended Just Intonation) and performed as a chamber musician throughout Europe. |
As an advocate for 21st-century music, Ben maintains close working relationships with many living composers, including Tom Williams, Noam Faingold, Daniel J. Miller, Alex Brusentsev, Marti Epstein, and Jeffrey Mumford. Performances of electroacoustic repertoire include Tom Williams’ “Dart” (2013) at the International Festival for Artistic Innovation in Leeds, the boombox works of Jacob ter Veldhuis, and a recent performance of Steve Reich’s “Different Trains” in London. A continuing project is to develop the repertoire and performance practice for Icelandic instrument-builder Halldór Úlfarsson’s “Halldorophone #5.” In the acoustic realm, Ben’s London-based piano trio gave the British premieres of several works by Nikolai Kapustin, and he recently recorded the complete Cello Suites by Benjamin Britten to commemorate fifty years since the premiere of the First Suite in 1965. An active studio artist, he has two dozen film & video game soundtrack credits to his name, and has recorded albums with the Ben Levin Group and Tredici Bacci.
He has performed as a member of the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlantic Symphony, Baltimore Baroque Band, Bridgeport Symphony, Peabody Concert Orchestra, Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra, Royal Academy Viol Consort, Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Video Game Orchestra (Boston) in venues such as Boston's Symphony Hall, the Duke's Hall at the Royal Academy, the Kennedy Center, the Kimmel Center, and Ozawa Hall (Tanglewood). His festival credits include Aspen, Tanglewood, Kneisel Hall, London Master Classes, Aurora, and Manchester, and he has studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Brentano, Shanghai, Amaryllis, and Fauré quartets. Ben's major teachers have been Alison Wells and John Moran in Baltimore, Mats Lidström and Jonathan Manson in London, and Anner Bijlsma and Pieter Wispelweij in Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.benswartz.net
He has performed as a member of the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlantic Symphony, Baltimore Baroque Band, Bridgeport Symphony, Peabody Concert Orchestra, Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra, Royal Academy Viol Consort, Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Video Game Orchestra (Boston) in venues such as Boston's Symphony Hall, the Duke's Hall at the Royal Academy, the Kennedy Center, the Kimmel Center, and Ozawa Hall (Tanglewood). His festival credits include Aspen, Tanglewood, Kneisel Hall, London Master Classes, Aurora, and Manchester, and he has studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Brentano, Shanghai, Amaryllis, and Fauré quartets. Ben's major teachers have been Alison Wells and John Moran in Baltimore, Mats Lidström and Jonathan Manson in London, and Anner Bijlsma and Pieter Wispelweij in Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.benswartz.net