Pianist Benjamin Hopkins has performed across Europe and North America, including recent debuts at the Festival de Luis Vega in Spain and New York City’s Merkin Hall. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of British Columbia, where he was a member of the groundbreaking Public Scholars Initiative and was a concerto soloist with the UBC Symphony Orchestra in an unprecedented three consecutive seasons.
Dr. Hopkins is a two-time prize winner at the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Auditions and won Grand Prize at the inaugural Silverman Piano Competition. Other honors include first prize at the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, the Susan Torres Award, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Young Artists Auditions, and selection as a finalist at the Kosciuszko International Chopin Competition and Seattle International Piano Competition. In recent summers he has held fellowships at the Gijon International Piano Festival, Festival del Lago (Mexico), and the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Dr. Hopkins has collaborated with members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Kronos and Zaffre Quartets. He has commissioned solo piano works by Joel Thompson, Peter S. Shin, and Kimberly Osberg and premiered gamelan-inspired music by Balinese composer Dewa Alit. Dr. Hopkins also holds degrees from the USC Thornton School of Music, where he was twice named by faculty as the school’s most outstanding graduate. His primary teachers are Corey Hamm, Lucinda Carver, Julian Martin, and Brian Preston.
