Exposition, our latest blog series, introduces you to the young musicians making their LACO debuts, fills you in on the contemporary composers having their pieces premiered by LACO and brings you up to speed on music by composers whose names you recognize but would prefer not to come up in Trivial Pursuit!
Meet Benjamin Beilman (pronounced Bileman) – an award-winning violinist making his LACO debut at the season’s opening concert with a performance of Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto.
Benjamin, still in his early twenties, has won numerous awards including, in 2012, both a London Music Masters Award and the Avery Fisher Career Grant – following in the footsteps of his idols Emmanuel Ax and Gil Shaham.
In an interview for Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society, Beilman mentioned that if he had not been a musician he might have pursued a career as a surgeon, explaining that “there’s something about the intensity of performance that I think I crave”. Pianist David Fung, who made his debut with LACO back in 2009, went a step further actually embarking on a medical degree before turning to music. Writing this, in a quiet office corner I might add, I’m wondering what steers people towards performance-based careers – whether musician, surgeon, firefighter or Meryl Streep. Where do they derive their superhuman drive from – is it inherent, learned or does it all stem from a Wheaties breakfast? I don’t know the answer, but somehow it’s all the more pleasing to learn that when Benjamin Beilman isn’t performing around the world he stays home pursuing everyday feats: reading The New Yorker and watching European soccer on TV.
With many more major debuts scheduled and his “impeccable virtuosity, squeaky-clean intonation and self-assured musicality” (The New York Times) concert platform stardom surely beckons for Benjamin Beilman.