BIOGRAPHY
Nominated by the Barbican as an ECHO Rising Star for the 2021/22 season, Ben Goldscheider has given recitals at major concert halls across Europe including at the Concertgebouw, Musikverein, Pierre Boulez Saal, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Köln Philharmonie and Wigmore Hall, amongst others.
Ben has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo and made his BBC Proms concerto debut in 2022 performing the Ethel Smyth Concerto for Horn and Violin with Elena Urioste and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kazuki Yamada. Ben has also appeared as a soloist with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Ulster Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, Lucerne Symphony, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Manchester Camerata, Prague Philharmonia and Sinfonie Orchester Berlin.
In the 2023/24 season, Ben will premiere multiple new commissions for horn including concerti, solo and chamber works. Highlights include debuts and the world premiere performances of Gavin Higgins’ Horn Concerto with BBC National Orchestra of Wales in collaboration with Philharmonie Zuidnederland and the London Chamber Orchestra in addition to Huw Watkins’ Horn Concerto premiering with Britten Sinfonia in collaboration with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at the Köln Philharmonie. In recital, Ben will make his Lucerne Festival debut including a new commission for natural horn and keyboards by Sara Cubarsi, his debut at the Purcell Room (Southbank Centre) featuring horn, electronics and live lighting design with commissions by Zoe Martlew and Mark Simpson and two appearances at the Wigmore Hall, London. Ben will also commission new works by Nicola Lefanu (Lammermuir Festival), Victoria Kelly & Georgina Palmer (At World’s Edge Festival, New Zealand), Matthew Peterson and Joseph Phibbs (Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival).
A committed chamber musician, Ben has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich, Sergei Babyan, Elena Bashkirova, Sunwook Kim and Michael Volle at the Verbier, Salzburg, Jerusalem, Intonations (Berlin) and Barenboim (Buenos Aires) Festivals, among many others. In recital, Ben has collaborated with Michael Barenboim, Stephen Hough, Tom Poster, Benjamin Baker, James Baillieu, Allan Clayton and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
His recordings include Legacy: A Tribute to Dennis Brain on Three Worlds Records with newly commissioned pieces by Huw Watkins and Roxanna Panufnik and a solo concerto recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra featuring the works of Arnold, Schoenberg and Gipps conducted by Lee Reynolds. Ben also recorded the solo horn call from Wagner’s Siegfried with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
Ben is a member of the Boulez Ensemble and principal horn of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. He was a prize-winner at the 2019 YCAT International Auditions and a BBC Young Musician Concerto Finalist in 2016.
Born in London, in 2020 Ben completed his studies with honours at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin with Radek Baborák. In 2023, Ben was appointed Artist in Association at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Reviews
The horn soloist, Benjamin Goldscheider, was superb.
The Times / Halle Orchestra - Sir Mark Elder - Siegfried / 2019
Ben Goldscheider’s horn-playing alone is a joy, particularly in the theatrical, improvisatory gestures of Quasi Una Cadenza.
BBC Music Magazine / Erika Fox-NMCD254 / August 2019
“Debut answers the necessary question about what separates Ben Goldscheider from the ranks of well-qualified horn players. He is a young man with a timeless gift.”
Voix des Arts 'Recording of the month', January 2018
“In the hands of 18 year old Ben Goldscheider, [Esa-Pekka Salonen’s] Horn Etude is an exhilarating thrill ride; Goldscheider becoming a musical Bear Grylls, fearlessly leaping through its dangerous terrain. You find yourself with him every step of the way.”
Huffington Post, BBC Young Musician Competition, May 2016
“Goldscheider...produced a lordly swooning tone in a sinuous work of immense difficulty.”
Arts Desk, BBC Young Musician Competition, May 2016
