Ben studied music at Exeter University, graduating with Distinction in performance, was Organ Scholar at Exeter Cathedral and became an associate of the Royal College of Organists. After University he studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where his tutors included Gordon Back and Graham Johnson, and trained as a repetiteur at the National Opera Studio. He has worked with the BBC, Lesley Garrett, Nelly Miricioiu, Marianne Cornetti, Sally Matthews, Glyndebourne Opera, English National Opera and The Opera Group on several productions including Die Fledermaus, Carmen, Madam Butterfly, Cosi fan tutte, Magic Flute, La Boheme, La Cenerentola and Eugene Onegin. His experience as an accompanist and chorus master ranges from silent films at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, to The Boy Friend, Cabaret, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti and several rarely performed opera with Chelsea Opera Group. He has also accompanied the London Philharmonic Chorus, the BBC Singers, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the Monteverdi Choir.. He is currently working as a freelance repetiteur and until 2011 was Assistant Director of Music at St. Luke’s, Chelsea, where John Ireland and John Goss were organists. He has also appeared on In Tune for Radio 3 and Operatunity for Channel 4. He has given many organ recitals, including Exeter and Bristol Cathedrals and Westminster Abbey. His conducting experience includes Mozart's Coronation Mass with Stanley Hall Opera and The Barber of Seville and Don Pasquale with Opera A La Carte. In 2014, he played for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group on Stravinsky’s one act chamber opera, Renard. He worked with Philharmonia Voices on A Prussian Requiem, a new oratorio by John Powell, composer of How to Train Your Dragon. On Christmas Day, he accompanied the winning carols for Classic FM in King’s College Chapel Cambridge with Stephen Cleobury. In 2015, he accompanied Rebecca Front on Radio 4 for With Great Pleasure. In 2017, he was appointed Chorus Accompanist of the London Symphony Chorus. He worked with the BBC Singers on Moth Requiem by Birtwistle, and worked on the premiere of Belongings with Glyndebourne Youth Opera. He recently played the organ for the UK premiere of Simon Johnson’s Gloria with the Waverley Singers. In 2018, he was one of four pianists for Stravinsky’s Les Noces at Queen Elizabeth Hall. In December, he conducted Guildhall Symphony Orchestra in preparation for Marin Alsop in Bernstein’s West Side Story Symphonic Dances. In 2019, he was one of two pianists for a performance of Carmina Burana with London Symphony Chorus at the Barbican. In 2021, he was the pianist for Never to Forget, a memorial piece composed by Howard Goodall commemorating the NHS workers who died in the 2020 Covid pandemic and performed at St. Paul’s Cathedral. In 2022, he played the organ in the Duruflé Requiem with London Symphony Orchestra at Southwark Cathedral. He became the organist at St. Margaret’s, Putney in September 2024, having played since 2014 principally at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St Bride’s, Fleet Street, St Pancras New Church, Euston, St John’s Wood Church and St Margaret’s, Westminster.In October, he will be working on M. Butterfly, an opera by Huang Ruo, with BBC Symphony Orchestra.
