Benjamin Grosvenor
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| Benjamin Grosvenor | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | July 8, 1992 |
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genre(s) | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Website | www.benjamingrosvenor.co.uk |
Benjamin Grosvenor (born July 8, 1992) is a classical pianist from the United Kingdom. A child prodigy, he became famous when he won the piano section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2004 competition.
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[edit] Family
Benjamin is the youngest of five brothers. His father is an English teacher, and his mother, a piano teacher by profession.
[edit] Education
Benjamin began studying the piano with his mother Rebecca at the age of six. He now also takes lessons from Hilary Coates and Christopher Elton in London. The Royal Academy of Music has awarded him a special affiliated scholarship, which is very rarely offered to a student of his age.
[edit] Performance career
In May 2003, Benjamin gave his first full recital at a local church. In the same year, he made his first concerto appearance, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with the Westcliff Sinfonia.
Since then he has given many high profile recitals in Europe and the United States. Some of the concerts he has played in were at the Royal Albert Hall, St George's, Bristol, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, Usher Hall, Carnegie Hall and Symphony Hall.
Benjamin has performed with prestigious orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish String Ensemble, New York Youth Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra playing works by Mozart, Grieg, Ravel, Britten and Chopin.
[edit] Awards
At the tender age of ten, in 2003, he became the youngest ever winner of four competitions- The Southend Young Musician of the Year, The Essex Young Musician of the Year, The Emanuel Trophy and The EPTA Trophy.
Eleven year old Benjamin was the winner of the keyboard section of the BBC Young musician of the year 2004 award. He played Scarlatti, Schumann, Takemitsu and Chopin- all from memory. The overall winner of this competition was Nicola Benedetti.
[edit] Recordings
Benjamin has already recorded a few CDs featuring various composers. In July 2005, Benjamin appeared in a BBC Documentary as part of the Imagine series.
He has recently signed an innovative development agreement with EMI whereby he will gain occasional studio experience over the coming years, and will have opportunities to meet and observe other recording artists, as a way of preparing for his own recordings with EMI in the future.
