George Benjamin

When the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize was awarded to George Benjamin in March 2023, he was hailed as ‘one of the most important and influential contemporary artists of recent decades, who as both a composer and a conductor has helped shape new music’.

The Englishman studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and piano with Yvonne Loriod. His first orchestral work, Ringed by the Flat Horizon, was performed at the BBC Proms in 1980. He has since been commissioned by leading institutions, musicians and festivals. One such work was the Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra, marking the opening of the seventy-fifth annual Salzburg Festival.

Since 1986, his compositions have also been performed at the Concertgebouw. Benjamin has written three acclaimed operas: Into the Little Hill, Written on Skin and Lessons in Love and Violence, the last two works having been staged as co-productions by such companies as the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and the Royal Opera House in London. His fourth opera, Picture a Day Like This, will be premiered at the Aix-en-Provence festival in the summer of 2023.

Benjamin leads such prominent ensembles as the Ensemble Modern, the Ensemble intercontemporain, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra – mainly in contemporary repertoire. He has returned regularly to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as a guest conductor since his first appearance in 2003. In 2015, he conducted the world premiere of his commissioned work Dream of the Song; the work was performed again, juxtaposed with works by Ravel, Richter and Soler, in January 2019.

Benjamin is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, is the recipient of a CBE and was knighted at the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2017. In 2022, he received both the Ivor Novello Award and the Grand prix artistique from the Fondation Simone et Cino Del Duca.