Benjamin Hochman is a musician of exceptional versatility who regularly appears in multiple guises as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. In recent years he has ventured into the orchestral repertoire as a conductor. His wide range of partners and projects is matched by his curiosity, focus, and ability to communicate deeply with audiences.
Since his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic, Hochman has enjoyed an international performing career, appearing as soloist with the New York, Los Angeles, and Prague Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras under conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, John Storgårds, and Joshua Weilerstein. A winner of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant, he performs at venues including Konzerthaus Wien, Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Louvre in Paris, Liszt Academy in Budapest, Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, New York’s 92nd Street Y, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Festival highlights include IMS Prussia Cove, Israel Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Lucerne, Santa Fe, Spoleto, and Verbier.
In 2021-2022, Hochman returns to Santa Fe Pro Musica to open their 2021-22 season, conducting Beethoven Symphony No. 5 and playing Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos with Anne-Marie McDermott. He rejoins the Orlando Philharmonic and Eric Jacobsen to perform Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1. Chamber music collaborations include the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Schubert Club in Minnesota, Strings Music Festival in Colorado, Music Mountain in Connecticut, The Stissing Center in New York, and numerous appearances in Berlin. He records the two Brahms Sonatas for Viola and Piano alongside works by Robert and Clara Schumann with violist Dov Scheindlin of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for Aparté Records.
Recent highlights include four Beethoven Piano Sonatas for Daniel Barenboim at the Pierre Boulez Saal and "Canonic Codes", a piano recital juxtaposing musical canons by Bach, George Benjamin, and Christopher Trapani (a premiere) for an online edition of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. The Trapani and Benjamin are featured alongside Rebecca Saunders Shadow in a recital for Tzlil Meudcan, a new-music festival in Tel Aviv.
A graduate of The Juilliard School’s conducting program, where he received the Bruno Walter Scholarship and the Charles Schiff Award, Hochman trained under Alan Gilbert from 2016-2018. Conducting highlights include the English Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic, The Orchestra Now at Bard Music Festival, and the Florida and Juilliard Orchestras.
In 2019, Hochman recorded Mozart Piano Concertos No. 17 and No. 24, playing and directing the English Chamber Orchestra (Avie Records). Hochman’s first two recordings for Avie Records were Homage to Schubert (works by Schubert, Kurtág, and Widmann) and Variations (works by Knussen, Berio, Lieberson, Benjamin, and Brahms), selected by The New York Times as one of the best recordings of 2015.
Hochman regularly appears at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and as a member of The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. His chamber music partners have included the Casals, Jerusalem, and Tokyo quartets, Lisa Batishvili, Jonathan Biss, Jaime Laredo, Miklós Perényi, and David Soyer.
Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Claude Frank, and the Mannes College of Music, where he studied with Richard Goode. His studies were supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. He serves on the piano faculty of Bard College Conservatory of Music and is currently a Research Associate at Bard College Berlin. He is a Steinway Artist and his website is www.benjaminhochman.com.
