Mono & Stereo © 2023: Benjamin Grosvenor

Grosvenor's performance was so alluring, so alive to the music's poetry, and so colourfully detailed."
The Daily Telegraph

"To call such playing that of a master-pianist will invite accusations of exaggeration and hyperbole - but what else can I say?" Gramophone

"A Keyboard Visionary" Der Süddeutschen Zeitung

Nineteen year old British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying performances and penetrating interpretations. An exquisite technique and ingenious flair for tonal colour are the hallmarks which make Benjamin Grosvenor one of the most sought-after young pianists in the world. His virtuosic command over the most strenuous technical complexities never compromises the formidable depth and intelligence of his interpretations. Audiences barely know where to start in describing his performances, with reviews such as that in International Piano Magazine commenting that ‘it is hard to know which is the more startling in a pianist still in his mid-teens: the all-encompassing mastery of technique, or the flair and maturity of imagination. He really is a rare talent.'

Benjamin first came to prominence as the outstanding winner of the Keyboard Final of the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition at the age of 11. Since then, Benjamin has become an internationally regarded pianist performing concerti with renowned orchestras from the London Philharmonic and the Tokyo Symphony to the Brazilian Symphony. For his Helsinki debut with Kymi Sinfonietta, Benjamin's performance was described as ‘Wunderkind dives straight to the heart of the music' (Helsingin Sanomat), again celebrating his prodigious intuition. In the United States, Benjamin Grosvenor has performed with the North Carolina Symphony, and made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the New York Youth Orchestra at the age of thirteen. In 2009, Benjamin's sell-out debut with the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall was hailed as ‘a performance that took its expressive and dramatic cues from the very heart of the music, and in so doing crafted an interpretation of palpable character and astute panache' (Daily Telegraph). Benjamin's orchestral performances have taken him to prominent venues such as the Barbican, Muza Kawasaki in Tokyo and the Royal Albert Hall and he has worked with numerous esteemed conductors including Alexander Lazarev, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Alan Buribayev.

Already an accomplished recitalist, Benjamin performs to acclaim across the world. A regular at the Wigmore Hall in London, he has also made debuts at venues including the Victoria Hall in Singapore and the Philia Hall in Tokyo. In the USA, Benjamin has appeared at the Gilmore Festival and is a favourite in Saint Paul at the Chopin Society in Minnesota. Benjamin has recently given a highly successful fifteen-concert tour across Germany, for which he was labelled a ‘piano visionary' by the Süddeutschen Zeitung. Benjamin continues to work chamber music collaborations into his busy schedule and performs regularly with members of the English Chamber Orchestra in London. This season, Benjamin Grosvenor becomes a member of the prestigious BBC New Generation Artists scheme. Highlights of the season include his BBC Proms debut on the First Night, playing Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jirí Belohlávek, and a further appearance at the BBC Proms playing the Britten Piano Concerto with the National Youth Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski. This season has also seen successful performances in the LSO St. Luke's Chopin Series and a Belgian debut at BOZAR in Brussels.

In 2011 Benjamin signed to Decca Classics, and in doing so has become the youngest British musician ever to sign to the label, and the first British pianist to sign to the label in almost 60 years. His first recording for Decca includes Chopin's Four Scherzi and Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and was released in July 2011. Benjamin has already been involved in a number of successful recordings. His recordings for the 200th anniversary edition of Chopin's complete works (EMI, 2010) received outstanding accolades. He was lauded for his ‘sensitivity of touch, general musicality and affection for the music' by Jessica Duchen in BBC Music Magazine. Benjamin's recording ‘This and That' (Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound/EMI, 2008) also received overwhelming commendation. Bryce Morrison's review in Gramophone remarked that ‘even the most outlandish difficulties are tossed aside not just as child's play but with a seemingly endless poetic finesse and resource.' During his short but sensational career to date, Benjamin has been featured in two BBC television documentaries, and his performances have been broadcast widely in the UK, Europe and the USA.

The youngest of five brothers, Benjamin Grosvenor began playing the piano aged 6. He currently studies with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music on an affiliated scholarship and has also studied with Leif Ove Andsnes, Stephen Hough, and Arnaldo Cohen amongst others.