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Benjamin Hochman

‘Classical music doesn't get better than this’ — The New York Times.

In all roles, from orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician to conductor, Benjamin Hochman regards music as vital and essential. Composers, fellow musicians, orchestras and audiences recognize his deep commitment to insightful programming and performances of quality. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and Suntory Hall. His festival appearances include Lucerne, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Krzyżowa-Music, Marlboro Music and Santa Fe.

Hochman’s recent and upcoming highlights include playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Rheinische Staatsphilharmonie conducted by Benjamin Shwartz; conducting the Szeged Symphony and Orlando Philharmonic; solo recitals in Paris, Berlin, and Hitzacker; and chamber music at Tanglewood and Nymphenburger Sommer. He tours with the Curtis Institute of Music to Berlin, Bremen, Stockholm, and Vienna, and curates Signs, Games, and Messages, the Kurtág Festival at Bard College, New York, where he has served as Artistic Director since 2022.

Hochman’s 2024 Avie Records release, Resonance, features Beethoven, George Benjamin, Josquin, and Dowland, praised by Gramophone for its “subtle timbral palette and keen ear for texture.” Earlier albums include Homage to Schubert and Variations, a New York Times “Best Recording of the Year.”

Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman studied with Claude Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music and Richard Goode at the Mannes School. At Mitsuko Uchida’s invitation, he spent three formative summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, during the same period that he was a member of the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

At 24, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Israel Philharmonic under Pinchas Zukerman, leading to engagements with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Chicago and Pittsburgh Symphonies, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Prague Philharmonia. He has performed under conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, and David Robertson.

In 2015 Hochman developed an autoimmune condition affecting his left hand, which led him to pursue his longstanding interest in conducting. At Juilliard he studied with Alan Gilbert, receiving the Bruno Walter Scholarship and the Charles Schiff Award. Soon after, he conducted the orchestras of Santa Fe Pro Musica, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and The Orchestra Now at Bard College.

Fully recovered, he returned to the piano in 2018, recording Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 24 as pianist and director with the English Chamber Orchestra (Avie Records). He went on to present the complete Mozart Sonatas, perform Beethoven sonatas for Daniel Barenboim at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, and play both Beethoven and Kurtág for Kurtág himself at the Budapest Music Centre.

A Steinway Artist, he lives in Berlin and teaches at Bard College Berlin.

https://www.benjaminhochman.com/

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Blair McMillen

B.A., B.M., Oberlin College; M.M., The Juilliard School; D.M.A., Manhattan School of Music. Pianist, chamber musician, improviser, concert series curator. Appearances as soloist at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, le Poisson Rouge, Moscow Conservatory, Casals Hall (Tokyo), Miller Theatre. Has performed with American Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Albany Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra (Lincoln Center and tour of Japan). Profiled by New York Times, Washington Post, Accent, others. Member, Da Capo Chamber Players, American Modern Ensemble, Avian Orchestra. Pianist for St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (spring 2011). Solo recordings include Soundings (Midnight Productions), Concert Music of Fred Hersch (Naxos), Multiplicities '38 (Centaur). At Bard since 2006.