West Wight Arts Association

Born in New Zealand in 1990, Ben Baker first picked up a violin at three years old. Four years later he had made seven television appearances and played with the celebrated Nigel Kennedy who recommended he apply to join The Yehudi Menuhin School in London. Ben was granted a scholarship in 1998 and travelled from New Zealand to begin his training in England.

His last big performance in New Zealand was a concert in front of 20,000 people in Wellington; since then he has played in the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Bath Pump Room at the International Bath Festival, The Stables and has given recitals in Turkey, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France and New Zealand

Ben’s concerto debut was at 12 years old in Istanbul with the Romanian State Concert Orchestra playing Mozart. He has since played Bruch, Tchaikovsky, Kabalevsky, Vaughan Williams and Mendelssohn with professional orchestras worldwide.

In 2005, Ben played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto broadcast live on Radio New Zealand with the NGC Wellington Sinfonia and later that year he released his first solo CD, ‘Arcadian Strings’, which won the Classic FM Next Big Thing Award.

The Cathcart Concerto Award in 2007 gave Ben his first opportunity to play with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. The critic Michael Darvell said of his performance, ‘At just 17, Ben is obviously destined for great things’.

At the 2009 Gstaad Festival Ben impressed the Daily Telegraph critic, Michael White, who wrote, ‘A fine account of Vaughan Williams’ Concerto Academico with Ben Baker, a sleek-sounding young soloist; Hugely impressive’. That same year Ben was a finalist in the Young Concert Artist Trust (YCAT) competition at the Wigmore Hall and has since performed for YCAT on many occasions.

Ben has received acclaim both as a soloist and also as a member of the string ensemble, Trio Boyarsky. During 2010 Ben will be touring Sweden and New Zealand with Trio Boyarsky.

Ben is currently studying on a full ABRSM scholarship at the Royal College of Music with Natasha Boyarsky. He has just released his second CD ‘Ben Baker Live at The Menuhin Hall’.

www.benbakerviolin.co.uk