Ben grew up on a small farm in the hills near Lismore. A love of music at an early age led to him singing cabaret, plucking a banjo and blowing the trumpet. He started learning classical guitar at age 10 and added jazz guitar at 15. Ben took up the trumpet at the age of 19 under the tutelage of Miroslav Bukowsky and later honed his improvisation skills with Scott Tinkler. He earned a bachelor’s degrees in music and teaching from the University of New England, and sang with the UNE-NR choir and Lismore Choral Society.
Ben has performed with numerous blues, rock, funk, reggae and ska bands. In 2002 he toured the USA with the Mudcrab Boogie Band supporting Smokey Robinson at the Common Ground Music Festival in Michigan in front of 5000 people and played at The Famous Door in New Orleans.
Whilst performing was Ben’s natural inclination, a love of teaching led him to conducting school bands and community ensembles. He studied concert band conducting at the ABODA summer school with Jerry Nowak. He joined the LSO at the very beginning in 2003, and started conducting the orchestra in 2017.
‘I love that people from diverse backgrounds come together for a common aim – to make beautiful music. It displays for all to see that humans can cooperate to make the world a better place’.
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