At the age of eighteen, Ben Goldscheider reached the Final of the 2016 BBC Young Musician Competition, where he performed at London's Barbican Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Since then, he has performed at venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre and London's Royal Albert Hall, where he made his BBC Proms Debut in 2018. He has also appeared as soloist with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia. In 2018, Ben released his debut album with Willowhayne Records to critical acclaim, and was selected as BBC Music Magazine’s “Rising Star” and Gramophone Magazine’s “One to Watch”.

This season, Ben makes concerto debuts with the English Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and the Prague Philharmonia. In February he returns to the Berlin Philharmonie to perform the Gliere Horn Concerto with das Sinfonie Orchester Berlin conducted by Radek Baborák. A committed chamber musician, Ben has performed at Wigmore Hall with tenor Julian Prégardien and pianist Christoph Schnackertz, the Pierre Boulez Saal alongside Daniel Barenboim and Michael Barenboim and the Verbier Festival with Sergei Babayan. Other highlights include the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, chamber music with Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich at the Pierre Boulez Saal and Trio concerts with Callum Smart (violin) and Richard Uttley (piano) across the UK, featuring the premiere of a new work by Geoffrey Gordon in London. Sought-after as an orchestral player, he has performed as guest principal horn with the Staatskapelle Berlin, Philharmonia, English Chamber, West-Eastern Divan Orchestras and in 2018, played the solo horn call from Wagner’s Siegfried in a semi-staged production with The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder.

Prizes include the 2016 Philip Jones Memorial Prize at the Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition and the Cox Memorial Prize and Audience Prize at the Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition. In 2012, Ben was the youngest participant in the London Symphony Orchestra Brass Academy, and as principal horn of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, he was awarded the John Fletcher Brass Prize for his contribution to the orchestra.

Debut answers the necessary question about what separates Ben Goldscheider from the ranks of well-qualified horn players. He is a young man with a timeless gift Voix des Arts 'Recording of the month', January 2018

Goldscheider...produced a lordly swooning tone in a sinuous work of immense difficulty.
Arts Desk, BBC Young Musician Competition, May 2016

1. What is the best perk of being a conductor?
 Friendship is something that I value a lot, and I have been lucky to be able to maintain friendships in various parts of the world by returning regularly to places through my work as a condutor.
 
2. For people who are not familiar with Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian’ Symphony No. 4, what should they listen out for?
The character of each movement is incredibly different as well as their sound textures. The first movement offers a lot of energy, even in lyrical themes. Listen out for the constant quavers that are heard at the very start in the winds that get shared and passed on in almost every sections ! The timpani (percussion) has, to me, a very important role, shaping the whole orchestra. In the second movement, listen out for the funeral march character dictated in the bass line. If you can, try to hear the hidden lovely melody in the flutes on the top of the bass and violin lines. The transparency of this line is divine !! My favorite part of the third movement is the middle one when we hear the fanfare, it gives a sudden boost of character. The last movement is an Italian fast danse (salterello), you can spot its lively character on the very first few bars in the strings, accompanying the theme in the flutes. Around the middle of this movement, try to hear the regular beats in the timpani, reinforced by the horns, trumpets and eventually the double basses. This passage is very powerful ! 

3. And what can audiences expect from your concerts?
To me one essential point about concerts is to be transported somewhere. There is never only one destination as we all have different experiences. I wish my audience to live the story line we will deliver. If I can make people go home and feel 'changed' or 'refreshed', sitting down on their sofas and say 'This was quite something!' even without pointing exactly what happened, i think it is a big win for the orchestra and myself. 

4. What is the best feedback you’ve ever received from an audience member?
A man told me he was transported during the concert, that I telling a story musically but also physically. He could hear some hidden voices that made sense that he had never heard before. This is very pleasing to hear as an interpreter.