Piano, Conductor | Worldwide Representation
Acclaim

"Mr. Hochman, whose career as a pianist has been thriving, took time off recently to study conducting. It was time well spent. The stylistic insight, elegance and sparkle of Mr. Hochman’s pianism are beautifully matched by the playing of the orchestra."

The New York Times

"Hochman led the work with refreshing calm, clarity, and friendliness: almost every note seemed to wear a smile. Hochman’s return to the stage for a Bach Sarabande demonstrated enlightening continuity with his approach to the Bartók, respecting the integrity of each individual tone and embracing the silences in between them."

Boston Globe

"There is something very personable about his eloquent, intelligent, and serious manner and elegant flair, which translate into artistic integrity on stage. Whether on the podium, at the keyboard in recital, or performing chamber music, Hochman sees himself mostly as a musician, deeply dedicated to the spirit of collaboration, which also becomes a decisive element in his teaching. Once weekly, he holds a studio class as an educator on the faculty of Bard College. He feels that 'it’s all about communication, knowing how to get the best results and how to inspire, whether that’s audiences, orchestral collaborators, or students.'"

Get Classical

"I kept thinking that classical music doesn’t get better than this."

The New York Times

"Hochman played with a light touch and impressive textural clarity, delivering a fresh, inviting performance that was highlighted by a rapturous account of the Concerto’s transcendent second movement."

Arts Fuse

"Hochman led the audience through this rugged, majestic landscape with such rhetorical authority that there was no hint of movement among his listeners when he paused between sections. The minute he was done, the audience launched immediately into ovations…"

The Washington Post
“Elegant, polished, and heartfelt.”
The Boston Globe
"Pianist Benjamin Hochman was a powerful protagonist in Prokofiev's spiritual odyssey."
The Washington Post
"Fluidity and resiliency were two hallmarks of Mr. Hochman's playing, and they came to the fore immediately in the Praeambulum to Bach's Partita No. 5, executed with the smoothness of cream but the transparency of water."
The New York Times

“Hochman’s performance with the orchestra was absolutely thrilling, and it will be remembered as a highlight of the BSO’s 124th season… Hochman made playing it look easy as his hands seemed to lightly dance up and down the keyboard. Soloist, conductor and orchestra became one in a riveting performance.”

Bangor Daily News

“...a pianist whose Beethoven and Brahms announced a maturity beyond his years.”

Toronto Star
"Benjamin Hochman, making his PSO debut, displayed the sort of Mozartean touch and clean tone that you can't teach. The Israeli pianist played with attention to line, patience in phrasing (especially in cadenzas) and some of the best trills I have heard. One sublime passage in the first movement had Hochman echoing himself exquisitely, and he switched intuitively from melancholy to upbeat in that temperamental middle movement."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Hochman's playing captured the beauty and power of Rachmaninoff's composition, and he provided both intensity and majesty as well as gracefulness and lyricism. At times his playing had a liquid quality; at other times, pure fire.”

Classical Voice North Carolina
"Hochman's playing was serene, virtually Olympian in its overview."
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"This was big, bold music making, perfect for the incipient Romantic sensibilities of a composer who still seems to be underplayed even though his fame is universal. Mr. Hochman especially played the stuffing out of [Mendelssohn's D Major] sonata. His solo passagework in the hymnal section of the Adagio was positively inspiring."
The New York Sun
"Barely moving at the piano, he played [Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major, K.271] with a refreshingly unaffected style, with nicely shaped phrasing and pristine articulation. The slow movement was a highlight, with its smiling-through-tears quality and the pianist's luminous touch in its long-breathed themes."
The Cincinnati Enquirer
"Anton Webern's Variations for Piano Op. 27 were hypnotic in their sharp precision and reflected music as pure as crystal. In the breathtaking playing of Hochman the musical material was brought to abstract wholeness."
Haaretz (Israel)

"This pianist has an ability to make the piano sing. Hochman is so adept at this demanding technique, especially in the introspective style of late Brahms, that one just wants to weep."

Free Times
"With a sound-painter's intensity and shimmering transparency he performed the Estampes of Debussy. The Brahms Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5, a hard nugget both musically and technically, revealed him to be a master of his profession. Virtuosity and charged emotionality truly merged."
Neue Ruhr Zeitung
“The performance of the Schubert Sonata was that of a pianist giving his all for every note, yet always holding something back, a balancing act that seems particularly appropriate for Schubert. The performance was never about timbre, but the range of colors he brought to bear on this piece, on the whole evening, was phenomenal.”

Sequenza 21

"Hochman's demeanor is poised, and quietly confident. His playing is beautiful to hear. From the first moment, his crisp, articulated touch was noticeable, clear but not forceful, even with pedal, and he shaped the phrases in the long cadenza with grace."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"A superb pianist. The glowing heart of the concert was a performance by Hochman and the Jerusalem Quartet of Schumann's Piano Quintet. The playing by these five typified the ideal of chamber music as a humane conversation about essential things."
The Globe and Mail
"Such breathless perfection that time seemed to stand still."
The Kansas City Star
"A white-heat performance."
The Vancouver Sun
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