Biography
Benjamin was born in Luxembourg in 1999 into a musical family. His parents - his mother is a violinist, his father a violist - gave him early access to classical music and took him to their rehearsals. At the age of four, Benjamin began playing the violin and switched to the cello the following year. He received his first lessons from Raju Vidali at Luxembourg's Conservatoire du Nord at the age of five. At twelve, he played his first solo concert with orchestra. In the same year, Benjamin was accepted into the Young Talent Class of the Maastricht Conservatory in the class of Mirel Iancovici. From 2014-2017 Benjamin studied at the Musikhochschule Köln as a Young Student with Maria Kliegel/Katharina Deserno and since 2017 he continues his studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Jens Peter Maintz.
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Benjamin participated in master classes with Maria Kliegel, Gustav Rivinius, Daniel Müller-Schott, W. E. Schmidt, J. P. Maintz as well as with Niall Brown at the Menuhin Academy in Switzerland. He is also a scholarship holder of the Music Academy in Liechtenstein and participates in the intensive weeks.
In the competition "Concours pour jeunes solistes 2014" Benjamin received the highest award as well as the "Prix de Sacem", becoming an EMCY laureate. In 2015, he won the first prize, the special prize and as well as the overall prize in the "Bellan International Competition" in Paris. In 2016, he won the first prize with 20 points out of 20 in the "Prodige Art Vatelot/Rampal" competition and the first prize with special award and maximum points in the "Concours Flame" international competition in Paris. In 2017 he played in the semi-finals of the competition "Grand Prix Anne et Françoise Groben".
Benjamin performs both as a soloist and in the orchestra. In February 2020 he recorded his first CD with the orchestra "Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie" in Herford. He has already played with artists such as Conrad van Alphen, Adrian Adlam, Vadym Kholodenko, Alena Baeva, Semion Gavrikov, Pascal Schumacher and Thomas Hell.
In recent years, Benjamin has successfully demonstrated his talent at a variety of national and international competitions. In 2020, he won the first prize, the audience prize and the prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned composition at the "Cello Biennale Competition" in Amsterdam. He is also a laureate of the Pablo Casals Award in Spain (special prize), the Gabrielli Competition in Berlin (second prize), the Anne and Françoise Groben Grand Prix in Luxembourg (first prize and audience prize), the Flame Competition in Paris (first prize and special prize), the Leopold Bellan International Competition in Paris (first prize and audience prize) and the International Knopf Competition in Düsseldorf. lso Benjamin has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra (OPL), the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie Herford, and the Phion Orchestra, and has performed in prestigious concert halls such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Gasteig in Munich, Kings Place in London, the Guangzhou Opera House, the Philharmonie Luxembourg City, the Salle Cortot in Paris, and the Athenaeum in Bucharest.
During his career, Benjamin has performed with artists such as Hartmut Hänchen, Tito Munos, Conrad van Alphen, Adrian Adlam, Vadym Kholodenko, Alena Baeva and Vahan Mardirossian. In February 2020 he recorded his first CD "Russian Mood" with the orchestra of the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra Herford for the label Ars Production. For this recording he was nominated in 4 categories of the "OPUS KLASSIK 2022".
In the upcoming 2023/24 season, Benjamin will make his debut with the West-Eastern Chamber Orchestra at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Solistes Européens conducted by Christoph König at the Philharmonie Luxembourg and the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yaron Traub. Benjamin is also very active as a chamber musician. He has participated in several chamber music academies, such as the Seiji Ozawa Academy (2021, 2022) and in the summer of 2023 he will play at festivals such as Krzyzowa Music, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam. He also plays with a rare bow made by the French bow maker F.X. Tourte.