Pianist Benjamin Hochman is curious and versatile, performing a wide range of repertory from Bach to the music of the various contemporary composers with whom he has worked. Hochman has also added conducting to his musical activities in the 2010s decade. Hochman was born in Jerusalem in 1980 and has retained ties as a performer to his home country. After lessons with Emanuel Krasovsky in Tel Aviv and training at the Conservatory of the Rubin Academy in Israel, he headed to the U.S. for further study. Hochman holds degrees from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he worked with Claude Frank, and the Mannes College of Music in New York, where his primary teacher was Richard Goode. Hochman's recital debut came at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006, and he built awareness of his talents in the New York scene with repeated appearances at the 92nd Street Y. His concerto debut came in an appearance with the New York Philharmonic, followed by a Carnegie Hall concert with the Israel Philharmonic and appearances with the Chicago Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. A major breakthrough was his reception of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2011, after which his career became international in scope. Hochman has appeared at major U.S. venues, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Louvre museum in Paris, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, among other top halls, and his festival résumé is a prestigious one, including concerts at the Marlboro Festival in Vermont, the Gilmore Festival in Michigan, and the Spoleto Festival in Italy. He has played concertos with most major U.S. and Israeli orchestras as well as the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra in Turkey. As a chamber player, Hochman has worked with top string quartets including the Tokyo, Shanghai, and Mendelssohn Quartets. He favors the juxtaposition of mainstream repertory and new music in his concerts and has commissioned works from such composers as Joan Tower, William Bolcom, and Krzysztof Penderecki. In the 2010s, Hochman has taken up conducting. He graduated from the conducting program at the Juilliard School and served as assistant to Louis Langrée at the 2016 Mostly Mozart festival. He has conducted the Orlando Philharmonic, the Santa Fe Pro Musica, and The Orchestra Now. Hochman made his recording debut in 2009 with Introducing Benjamin Hochman on the Artek label and has recorded several albums for Avie, including, in 2019, an album of Mozart piano concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra where he both played and conducted from the keyboard. ~ James Manheim