In all roles, from orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician to conductor, Benjamin Hochman regards music as vital and essential. Composers, fellow musicians, orchestras and audiences recognize his deep commitment to insightful programming and performances of quality. His most recent album, Resonance, was released by Avie Records on November 1, 2024. It includes Beethoven Piano Sonatas Op. 109 and 110, George Benjamin’s Shadowlines, and works by Josquin de Prez and John Dowland, and received widespread critical acclaim.
A winner of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant, Hochman performs at venues and festivals across the globe, including the Philharmonie in Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Germany’s Klavierfestival Ruhr, and Lucerne and Verbier festivals in Switzerland.
In the 2025-2026 season, his chamber music collaborations take him to Boston, Tel Aviv, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Berlin, Stockholm, Bremen, Cyprus, and Vienna. He curates the Kurtág Festival at Bard College New York.
Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman’s musical foundation was firmly established in his teenage years, with Claude Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music and Richard Goode at the Mannes School of Music as defining influences. At the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida, he spent three formative summers at the Marlboro Music Festival.
At 24, Hochman debuted as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. Orchestral appearances followed with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago and Pittsburgh Symphonies, and Prague Philharmonia under conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, David Robertson, and John Storgårds.
In 2015, Hochman developed an auto-immune condition affecting his left hand and decided to pursue his longstanding interest in conducting, studying with Alan Gilbert at Juilliard where he was granted the Bruno Walter Scholarship and the Charles Schiff Award. He has assisted Louis Langrée, Paavo Järvi, and Edo De Waart and created the Roosevelt Island Orchestra, consisting of some of New York’s finest orchestral and chamber musicians alongside promising young talent from top conservatories. Invitations to conduct the orchestras of Santa Fe Pro Musica, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, Orlando, and The Orchestra Now at Bard, New York, followed.
Fully recovered, Hochman re-emerged as pianist in 2018. He recorded Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 24, playing and directing the English Chamber Orchestra (Avie Records). He presented the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas at the Israel Conservatory in Tel Aviv, performed Beethoven sonatas for Daniel Barenboim as part of a filmed workshop at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, and played both Beethoven and Kurtág for Kurtág himself at the Budapest Music Centre.
Hochman is a Steinway Artist and a Lecturer at Bard College Berlin.
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