Since winning 1st Prize at the 2016 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York and 3rd Prize at the Michael Hill Competition in New Zealand Benjamin has established a strong international presence.
Described by the New York Times as bringing ‘virtuosity, refinement and youthful exuberance’ to his debut at Merkin Concert Hall he is much sought after as soloist and chamber musician.
Recent highlights include regular appearances at Wigmore Hall and on BBC Radio 3, his debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the East Neuk Festival, alongside solo appearances with the Auckland Philharmonia and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras in NZ.
In 2023 Benjamin returned to North America as soloist with the Fort Worth Symphony and Colorado Ballet Orchestras, and to Merkin Concert Hall in New York.
This season he flies back to New Zealand for his festival in Queenstown - At the World’s Edge, following a hugely successful launch in 2021. Other highlights include debuts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Ryan Bancroft (Barber), Mobile Symphony in Alabama, and the world premiere of Matthew Kaner’s Violin Concerto with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Amarillo Symphony in Texas.
Solo recordings include with the BBC Concert and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras and two critically acclaimed CDs with pianist Daniel Lebhardt for Delphian, 1942 and 1919:Coda.
Other solo appearances in recent seasons include the Philharmonia, Auckland Philharmonia, RTE Concert Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra Simón Bolívar of Venezuela, Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic, Albanian Radio Symphony, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Long Bay Symphony, National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain, Sinfonia Cymru, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese L’Aquila, and Maui Pops Orchestras.
In 2017 he premiered a new Concerto ‘Stranded' by Matthew Kaner for the European Commission’s celebration of Europe Day at St. John’s Smith Square and collaborated as soloist with the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company.
Sought after as a chamber musician, Benjamin has taken part in festivals across Europe and the USA including the Pärnu, East Neuk, Cheltenham, Steirisches Kammermusik, Northern Chords Festivals, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival with Anthony Marwood and Caramoor‘s Rising Stars series with Pamela Frank.
Born in New Zealand, Benjamin studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music where he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Rose Bowl. In 2013 he won 1st Prize at the Windsor International Competition and was a prize-winner at the YCAT International Auditions in London. He was a Fellow at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute in Chicago in 2016 and 2017. His first CD for Champs Hill Records was released in 2015 and immediately went to No.12 in the Classical Charts.
Benjamin plays on a Giovanni Grancino from 1694 on generous loan from a Charitable Trust.
“The playing is marvellously poised, an exemplary concept album aptly adapted to each composer’s circumstances and individuality. Baker and Lebhardt tell four very human stories, each of them flawed. I was on the edge of my seat throughout." - Norman Lebrecht, Le Scena Musicale, 1919:Coda, 2023
A performance by Benjamin Baker and Daniel Lebhardt that captures so effectively the passion and pain of Poulenc's inspiration ... an excellent recording.
Andrew McGregor Record Review / Delphian 1942 CD / 2021
"The world was in turmoil in 1942, with much of Europe under Nazi occupation. All three works on this remarkable album were begun that year, and two of them are products of this dark time ... New Zealand-born violinist Benjamin Baker and Hungarian pianist Daniel Lebhardt are superb partners with a rare passion and energy".
Apple Music / Delphian 1942 CD / 2021
We expect oracles from composers in ominous times. Here are three composers who preferred to bury their heads in scores. It is the interpreters, Benjamin Baker and Daniel Lebhardt, who bring out the terrors and anxieties that rumble beneath these works. Both are brilliant artists of independent mind and prodigious technique, one a New Zealander, the other Hungarian. Their Edinburgh recital was recorded last summer in the thick of the Covid pandemic. Different time, different crisis. This is a wonderfully timely album.
NORMAN LEBRECHT - La Scena Musicale / Delphian 1942 CD / 2021
Bach’s Second Partita, culminating in its colossal Chaconne: perfect of intonation, warmed by vibrato at carefully chosen points, utterly meaningful in every phrase so that the listener couldn’t lose focus. I heard conductor David Parry saying to Baker afterwards that it was the best live performance of the work he’d ever heard; that had been on my mind too, and I’ve probably heard far fewer than Parry.
The Arts Desk / Southrepps Festival / August 2019
The fine violinist Benjamin Baker….brought virtuosity, refinement and youthful exuberance to a daunting program.
New York Times / Merkin Concert Hall NY / February 2018
Photographer: Kaupo Kikkas