Biography

Benjamin Wallfisch's conducting career was launched by his First Prize in the 2001 British Reserve Insurance Conducting Competition and by his prize-winning performance the following year in the Leeds Conductors' Competition. At the age of 22, following studies with Vernon Handley and Sir Charles Mackerras, he was appointed Associate Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra and between 2003 and 2005 was Assistant Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, working alongside some of the world's greatest conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Valery Gergiev, Edo de Waart and Leonard Slatkin, and frequently conducting the orchestra in major venues including the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

Guest conducting engagements have included the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, City of London Sinfonia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre de Bretagne, Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and an appearance in the 2007 Mecklenburg Festival with the Weimar Staatskapelle. He has developed a strong relationship with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra who have re-invited him on several occasions, most recently to lead them in their annual performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and highlights of the 2009/10 and beyond include his debut performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (at the Hollywood Bowl), Danish Radio Symphony, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and the Zagreb Philharmonic.

Acclaimed by The Strad as "one of the finest accompanists anywhere on the podium", Benjamin has performed concerti with some of the world's finest soloists in including Evelyn Glennie, Freddy Kempf, Dame Felicity Lott, Branford Marsalis, Igor Oistrakh, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and John Williams. Of Benjamin's recent Quartz release of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto with Ruth Palmer and the Philharmonia, Robert Matthew-Walker of International Record Review said "If I hear a greater record of Shostakovich's music this year, I shall be astonished".