Benjamin Baker Photo: Copyright: Kaupo Kikkas
Violinist Benjamin Baker is on a roll and having his debut with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra playing Sibelius’ brilliant Violin Concerto in D minor. Also this season he will be appear as soloist for the RTE Concert Orchestra, English Chamber, Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic and Albanian Radio Symphony Orchestras.
The New Zealand-born performer has been described by the New York Times as a “fine violinist of virtuosity and refinement”.
2016 he won 1st Prize at the 2016 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York and in 2017 he was placed third at the Michael Hill Competition in New Zealand. That’s led to a string of top engagements including his debut at Merkin Concert Hall in New York, recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and regular appearances at Wigmore Hall in London.
Ben tells Eva Radich he has developed a close connection with dance since he was in a show with the Royal New Zealand Ballet where he played live on stage with three dancers for six weeks; his latest dance project was as the violin soloist in Oliver Davis’ work 'Infinite Ocean' which was a commission for a ballet company in San Francisco.
Ben Baker in Johan Kobborg's "Les Lutins" with the RNZB Photo: RNZB
In September Ben will play in a new chamber music festival in the Queenstown Lakes area with fellow violinist Justine Cormack.
"The foundational idea for us is to bring together the best of New Zealand, international and young New Zealand artists to celebrate and enjoy the best of NZ composers and some of the great masterpieces of chamber music we all know and love in the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago surroundings. And we will use the opportunity of having all those artists there to take them into the local community, into local schools, with the support of the Turn up the Music Charitable Trust to hopefully kick start something ... and give kids the opportunity to see what a violinist, a cellist, does all of that. It's an opportunity to explore creativity."
Since December 2018, Ben's been on Wigmore Hall's roster of artists. "Having studied in London it's one of my favourite places to play and I feel very blessed to play there."
He was also one of the very first at Wigmore Hall to have his concert live-streamed. "Nothing is more nerve wracking than the Wigmore Hall itself. The backstage has signed photographs of some of the most illustrious and frequently appearing artists and when you have all of those greats looking at you just before you walk on stage that immediately has a certain affect."
Check out the Violin Channel's Facebook page at midnight on 18 March to watch a live stream of Ben's performance in the Morgan Library series in New York.
Ben says he first played the Sibelius Violin Concerto when in his teens. Initially he found it a frustrating concerto: "It's such a virtuosic violin part but Sibelius does everything he can to switch off the bravura. That sort of Finnish reserve in the early days really frustrated me."
"With each composer... they all have their particular languages. The more time I spent with Sibelius, the more I could understand the language and how to speak it with as variety, spice and communication as I could find with it."
And now he says "You shouldn't be walking on stage to play anything unless/until you've found a way to love it."
