Benedict Holland

Benedict Holland studied the violin at the Royal Academy of Music with Manoug Parikian and later with Yossi Zivoni at the Royal Northern College of Music. As a chamber musician he was a founder member of the Matisse Piano Quartet and the Music Group of Manchester, broadcasting regularly for the BBC and undertaking British Council tours, and is a member of the recently formed Pleyel Ensemble. As an orchestral violinist he has guest-led many of the country’s major orchestras, including the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Northern Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Throughout his performing career, Ben has been a champion of contemporary music and of working with living composers and in 2011 he was delighted to join the acclaimed contemporary ensemble Psappha . Over the past four years with the ensemble, personal highlights have included collaborations with John Casken and Peter Maxwell Davies and taking Klas Torstensson’s Violin Concerto and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time to a two-week residency at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Future plans include a chamber opera by Mark Simpson for Opera North and BBC live broadcasts of works by Steve Reich and George Crumb. He has been the Leader of Sinfonia ViVa since 2001 and became its Artistic Advisor in 2006, appearing as both director and soloist. Recent performances have included concertos by Mozart, Weill, Arnold, Vaughan-Williams, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons . Chamber music has taken him from duos to octets and he has directed Viennese concerts from the violin and collaborated with students from schools and colleges in the East Midlands. Ben has classes at the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music. He plays on a rare violin by Rogeri, c.1710.