BenjaminBeilman

Benjamin Beilman has earned international acclaim for his passionate performances and distinctive tone—The New York Times called it “muscular with a glint of violence,” while The Strad praised its “pure poetry.” Praised for his instinctive sense of form and color, he brings a balance of elegance and surprise to his playing—uncovering new depths in familiar works and expanding the violin’s expressive range through his commitment to contemporary music.

Following his debut last season with the Berlin Philharmonic under Andris Nelsons, Benjamin makes another major debut in 2026/27 with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, performing Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto. He also appears with the Wroclaw Philharmonic, Hamburger Symphoniker, SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, and Kristiansand and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras. In the US, he returns to the Colorado Symphony and New Century Chamber Orchestra—which he will lead in a program of Mustonen, Ysaÿe, Sibelius, and Schoenberg—and continues his recital partnership with Steven Osborne at Spivey Hall and the Aspen Music Festival. In Asia, he returns to the Taipei Symphony and makes debuts with the Beijing Symphony and Hangzhou Philharmonic.

Recent highlights include performances with the Minnesota, Baltimore, and Seattle Symphonies, returns to the Oslo Philharmonic and Antwerp Symphony, and his Berlin Philharmonic subscription debut following a US tour with Kirill Petrenko and the orchestra, replacing Hilary Hahn. This past summer, he undertook a month-long Australasian tour with the Sydney Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, West Australian Symphony, and Auckland Philharmonia.

Beilman has performed with leading orchestras including the Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago Symphonies, Rotterdam and London Philharmonics, Trondheim Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and Houston Symphony. He has also toured extensively in Australia in recital under Musica Viva and, in 2022, became one of the youngest artists to join the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music.

His commitment to contemporary music has inspired new works by Frederic Rzewski, commissioned by Music Accord, and Gabriella Smith, commissioned by the Schubert Club in St. Paul and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has performed Jennifer Higdon’s Violin Concerto extensively, recorded Thomas Larcher’s Violin Concerto with Hannu Lintu and the Tonkünstler Orchestra, and premiered Chris Rogerson’s The Little Prince Violin Concerto with the Kansas City Symphony and Gemma New.

Conductors with whom he has worked include Elim Chan, Tabitha Berglund, Marie Jacquot, Cristian Măcelaru, Andris Nelsons, Kirill Petrenko, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Anja Bihlmaier, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Semyon Bychkov, Krzysztof Urbański, Ryan Bancroft, Gemma New, Jonathon Heyward, Rafael Payare, and Giancarlo Guerrero.

Beilman studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Ida Kavafian and Pamela Frank and with Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy. His awards include a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, Avery Fisher Career Grant, and London Music Masters Award. He has recorded works by Stravinsky, Janáček, and Schubert for Warner Classics. He performs on the ex-Balaković F. X. Tourte bow (c. 1820) and the “Ysaÿe” Guarneri del Gesù of 1740, generously loaned by the Sasakawa Music Foundation.