Benjamin Hochman
piano

Pianist Benjamin Hochman is achieving widespread acclaim for his performances as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He is an extremely mature artist with an exciting interpretive depth.  Mr. Hochman has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras, Seattle Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Portland Symphony and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada under eminent conductors such as Pinchas Zukerman, Jaime Laredo, Jun Märkl, Bramwell Tovey, Leon Botstein, Lucas Richman, Arthur Post and Nir Kabaretti.  Mr. Hochman made his Carnegie Hall debut with Pinchas Zukerman and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004 and has subsequently made regular appearances in Israel with the IPO, Jerusalem Symphony and Raanana Symphonette among others.

During the 2008-2009 season Benjamin Hochman appears at the Bard Music Festival, Bridgehampton Music Festival and perform Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Santa Fe Chamber Muisc Festival. He collaborates with the Daedalus Quartet at Spivey Hall in Atlanta, performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 with the Vancouver Symphony and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic. International performances are planned for London, Barcelona, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.  Mr. Hochman has also been invited by the eminent Kalichstein’Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Tokyo String Quartet to appear in their respective series at the 92nd Street Y in New York.   He will also return to his native Israel for concerts and masterclasses in May 2009.

Mr. Hochman came into prominence with his New York solo recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 2006-2007 season.  That season he performed Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 Age of Anxiety with the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein and toured with pianist Jonathan Biss. He also appeared at the Kennedy Center and 92nd Street Y with the Zukerman ChamberPlayers, and participated in the world renowned Carnegie Hall Young Artists workshops with Osvaldo Golijov and Dawn Upshaw.  He maintains an affinity with living composers and programs works by Carter, Kurtag, Penderecki, Tania Leon, Phillippe Hurel and William Bolcom, among others.
Benjamin Hochman has performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Santa Fe, Spoleto/Italy, Lucerne, Verbier, Bravo! Vail, Eastern Shore, Prussia Cove and Vancouver festivals. A passionate chamber musician, Mr. Hochman enjoyed an inspiring relationship with Lincoln Center’s prestigious “Chamber Music Society Two.” He has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Orion, Mendelssohn, Prazak, and Daedalus Quartets and with Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Cho-Liang Lin, Ani Kavafian, and Ralph Kirshbaum. In recent seasons, he has played recitals at Vancouver’s Recital Society, Ravinia and the Gilmore Keyboard Festivals’ ‘Rising Star’ series, Santa Fe’s “Artist Circle” series, New York’s Town Hall, Italy’s Spoleto Festival, and the Louvre.
Benjamin Hochman’s previous seasons included many important orchestral debuts and re-engagements, as well as recital and chamber music projects. He performed Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto in his Seattle Symphony debut (described by The Seattle Times as “remarkably poetic”) with conductor Jun Märkl and joined conductor Pinchas Zukerman and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a Mozart Piano Concerto project with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He made his Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debut under Jaime Laredo and also appeared with him at the Vermont Symphony. In May 2006 he was re-engaged by the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa for an all-Mozart program led by Pinchas Zukerman. He also gave recitals at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr (Germany), Israel’s Voice of Music Series, and the Brattleboro Music Center in Vermont, among others.
The pianist’s honors include the “Outstanding Pianist” citation at the Verbier Academy, the Festorazzi Award given by the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, second prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, the “Partosh Prize” awarded by the Israeli Minister of Culture for best performance of an Israeli work, and first prize at the National Piano Competition of the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s Young Artist Showcase and Performance Today, CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia), Radio France, and Israel’s Voice of Music radio station, as well as on the European television network, Mezzo.

Born in Jerusalem, Benjamin Hochman 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. His studies were supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.