Benjamin Grosvenor

Benjamin Grosvenor
Born (1992-07-08) 8 July 1992
Origin United Kingdom
Genres Classical
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Piano
Years active since 2003
Labels Decca
Website www.benjamingrosvenor.co.uk

Benjamin Grosvenor (born 8 July 1992) is a British classical pianist.

Education

Grosvenor is the youngest of five brothers. His father is an English and Drama teacher, and his mother Rebecca is a piano teacher by profession.[1] Grosvenor began studying the piano with his mother at the age of six.[1] He joined Westcliff High School for Boys[1] in 2003. He now also takes lessons from Christopher Elton[1] in London. Grosvenor studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where he had musicianship classes with Daniel-Ben Pienaar and Julian Perkins.[2][3] At his graduation as BMus in 2012 he received the Queen’s Award for Excellence for the best all-round student of the year.[4]

Performance career

In May 2003, Grosvenor gave his first full recital at a local church. In the same year, he made his first concert appearance performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with the Westcliff Sinfonia. Since then he has given many high-profile recitals in Europe and North America. Some of the concerts he has played in were at the Royal Albert Hall,[1] St George's, Bristol, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, Usher Hall, Carnegie Hall and Symphony Hall.

Grosvenor has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish String Ensemble, New York Youth Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra[5] and English Chamber Orchestra,[6] playing works by Mozart, Grieg, Ravel, Britten and Chopin. On 20 May 2009 Grosvenor made his debut with the Ulster Orchestra, conductor Kenneth Montgomery, at the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

In 2010 Grosvenor joined BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme, which he completed in 2012. In the summer of 2011 he made his debut at the BBC Proms as the youngest-ever soloist on opening night,[7] playing Liszt's Second Piano Concerto, and Britten's Piano Concerto later in the series with the National Youth Orchestra. Judith Weir composed her solo piano work Day Break Shadows Flee for Grosvenor, who gave its world premiere in September 2014.[8]

Awards

At age 10, in 2003, he became the youngest-ever winner of four competitions: The Southend Young Musician of the Year, The Essex Young Musician of the Year, The Emanuel Trophy and The EPTA Trophy. At age 11, Grosvenor was the winner of the keyboard section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2004 award.

In 2011, the Evening Standard selected Grosvenor as one of its "1,000 Most Influential Londoners"[9] and the Daily Telegraph chose him as one of its "Top 10 Britons of the Year".[10]

In 2012, Grosvenor was awarded two Gramophone Awards: 'Instrumental Award' and 'Young Artist Award', making him Gramophone's youngest-ever double award winner.[11] He was also awarded a Classic Brit 'Critics Choice Award' for his Chopin/Liszt/Ravel CD on Decca.[12]

Recordings

Grosvenor has recorded CDs featuring various composers. In July 2005 he appeared in a BBC documentary as part of the Imagine series.

After a short period under a development agreement with EMI, he signed for Decca in April 2011, the youngest artist ever and the first British pianist in 60 years to sign with the label.[13] [14] He has released three albums on the label. His first, Chopin Liszt Ravel, won the 2012 Gramophone Award for the best instrumental album released in the previous year.[15] Also in 2012, he released Rhapsody in Blue, featuring music by Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Gershwin with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Judd. In 2014, he released Dances (2014), a solo album featuring music in dance forms by composers including Bach, Chopin, Scriabin and Granados. The album was awarded "Disc of the Month" by both the BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone.[16]

In September 2012, Grosvenor was featured in the CNN series Human to Hero.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Moss, Stephen (10 November 2005). "'At three he was reading the Wall Street Journal'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  2. ↑ Service, Tom (14 April 2011). "Benjamin Grosvenor: 'I'm not that talented'". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  3. ↑ Morley, Christopher (14 October 2011). "Benjamin Grosvenor is a prodigy with an ear for music". Birmingham, United Kingdom: Birmingham Post. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Royal Academy of Music, Graduation 2012". 29 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  5. ↑ Norris, Geoffrey (2009-01-26). "Benjamin Grosvenor and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, review". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  6. ↑ Norris, Geoffrey (27 May 2008). "Benjamin Grosvenor: teenage prodigy comes of age". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  7. ↑ Service, Tom (14 April 2011). "Benjamin Grosvenor: 'I'm not that talented'". Guardian. London.
  8. ↑ Benjamin Grosvenor (2014-08-29). "Proms 2014: when Benjamin Grosvenor met Judith Weir". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
  9. ↑ "London's 1000 most influential people 2011: Classical". Evening Standard.
  10. ↑ "Britons of the year". Daily Telegraph. London. 28 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Gramophone Awards 2012 announced". Gramophone magazine.
  12. ↑ "Classic Brit Awards - Winners 2012". Classic Brit Awards.
  13. ↑ Andy Gill (2011-07-08). "Album: Benjamin Grosvenor, Chopin/Liszt/Ravel (Decca)". The Independent. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
  14. ↑ Matthew Dicker (2013-07-25). "Musical marvel: Classical pianist Benjamin Grosvenor shares his gift in Wolf Trap concert". Washington Times. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  15. ↑ "Benjamin Grosvenor at the Gramophone Awards 2012". Classic FM. 28 September 2012.
  16. ↑ "Benjamin Grosvenor: Dances". Presto Classical.
  17. ↑ Lianne, Turner (10 September 2012). "From Human to Hero". CNN. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
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