BEN ANDERSON
trombone
Trombonist Benjamin Anderson has forged a remarkably diverse path through to his spot at the cutting edge of contemporary classical practice. An agent of fine musicianship, his fresh and sophisticated approach to the performance of orchestral repertoire has rendered him in demand with Australasian companies including Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and most recently Orchestra Victoria where Benjamin has held the position of Principal Bass Trombone since 2015.
It is the innovative and unconventionally beautiful that grips the core of Benjamin’s curiosity as an artist. As a soloist, he has collaborated with Paul Dean, Charles MacInnes, Andrew Aronowicz, Jacob Abela, Elliott Hughes, and Peter De Jager to create new works for his instrument. Benjamin retains a strong interest in experimental music, European modernism, and the avant-garde with stylistic influences ranging from composer Liza Lim to ballet choreographer Nacho Duato and Taiwanese-American large-scale visual artist James Jean.
A champion of innovation and cross-disciplinary collaboration, Benjamin welcomes the influence of non-musical art forms on his methods of artistic interpretation. His is a fresh, thoughtful, visceral and bold contribution to the patchwork of twenty-first century performance aesthetics.
Benjamin is driven by a deep joy of learning and solid commitment to developing his artistic toolkit. His undergraduate studies extend through two Bachelors of Music from the University of Melbourne and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Singapore and a year of postgraduate study at the Australian National Academy of Music. Benjamin was recently awarded a Master of Music (First Class Honours) from the University of Melbourne where he was the recipient of numerous prizes including the Donald William Thornton Bequest, a Global Atelier Postgraduate Travelling Scholarship, and the Jim Marks Postgraduate Scholarship. Benjamin’s principal mentors have included David Taylor, Don Immel, Michael Bertoncello, Shannon Pittaway, and George Curran.
As an educator and instrumental pedagog, Benjamin approaches the empowerment of students through active development of technique, self-confidence, and a fundamental love of collaborative music-making. He has worked with students of University of Melbourne, as a tutor with Orchestra Victoria’s mOVe workshops, and has co-developed workshops for SmArts, the University of Melbourne’s partnership program with The Smith Family and regional Victorian schools. In 2017, Benjamin joined the Australian Youth Orchestra’s Young Symphonists program as a sectional tutor, and in 2018 he tutored for AYO’s National Music Camp in Adelaide.