About
“Classical music doesn't get better than this.” — The New York Times
In all his roles—as pianist, conductor, curator, and educator—Benjamin Hochman regards music as vital and essential. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, he is recognized for insightful programming and performances of exceptional quality and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Wigmore Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and Suntory Hall. Festival appearances include Marlboro, Lucerne, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, and Krzyżowa-Music.
Hochman’s 2026–27 season includes a performance at the Berlin Philharmonie with Brett Dean, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Composer in Residence, alongside concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley and principal cellist Ludwig Quandt. The program features the world premiere of Cathy Milliken’s In Play, Dean’s Imaginary Ballet, and Schumann’s Piano Quartet.
As pianist and conductor, Hochman makes his debut with the Westchester Philharmonic and returns to Santa Fe Pro Musica to play and direct piano concertos by Bach and Mozart. Upcoming appearances also include two chamber music programs with musicians of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and recitals with violist Amihai Grosz in Seon, Switzerland, and Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.
Recent highlights include duo recitals with Noah Bendix-Balgley in Berlin and Munich, Tanglewood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall with musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Strings Music Festival in Colorado. As faculty at Ravinia’s Steans Institute, Hochman curated and performed chamber music with emerging artists, and with Curtis on Tour he performed in Berlin, Bremen, Vienna, Stockholm, and Vilagarcía de Arousa.
Beginning in 2027, Hochman undertakes a two-year traversal of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, with cycles at the Eden-Tamir Music Center in Jerusalem and Camphill Village Kimberton Hills in Pennsylvania. Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated! returns to his repertoire with performances at the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, Kühlhaus Berlin, Brooklyn Public Library, and on Roosevelt Island, as well as on Live from WFMT in Chicago. He also presents two recitals at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC.
His 2024 Avie Records release, Resonance, featuring Beethoven, George Benjamin, Josquin, and Dowland, was praised by Gramophone for its “subtle timbral palette and keen ear for texture.” Earlier recordings include Homage to Schubert and Variations, the latter named a New York Times Best Recording of the Year.
Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman studied with Claude Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music and Richard Goode at the Mannes School of Music. At Mitsuko Uchida’s invitation, he spent three formative summers at Marlboro and participated in the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. At 24, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Israel Philharmonic under Pinchas Zukerman, leading to engagements with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Chicago and Pittsburgh Symphonies, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada, and the Prague Philharmonia. He has worked with conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, David Robertson, John Storgårds, and Joshua Weilerstein.
Hochman later studied conducting with Alan Gilbert at Juilliard, receiving the Bruno Walter Scholarship and Charles Schiff Award. Upon graduation, he recorded Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 24 as pianist and director with the English Chamber Orchestra for Avie Records. He has conducted the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Madeira Symphony in Portugal, the Szeged Symphony Orchestra in Hungary, The Orchestra Now at Bard College, and the Roosevelt Island Orchestra, an orchestra he founded and directs in New York City.
Since 2022, Hochman has served as Artistic Director of the Kurtág Festival at Bard College in New York, bringing together performers, scholars, filmmakers, faculty, and students in programs exploring Kurtág’s music and its broader cultural context.
A Steinway Artist, Hochman lives in Berlin and teaches at Bard College Berlin.
www.benjaminhochman.com
September 1, 2026