Benjamin Lai was born in California in 1993 and received his first cello lessons at the age of four from Michail Gelfandbein, a former pupil of Mstislav Rostropovich. In 2002, he moved to New York, where he attended the Juilliard Pre-College with Andre Emelianoff, receiving additional instruction from David Soyer and Nathaniel Rosen. From 2007-2012 he studied with Professor Jens Peter Maintz at the Julius-Stern-Institute of the University of the Arts in Berlin, and since fall 2012 he has been studying with Professor Heinrich Schiff at the Vienna Music University.
In 2003, he was selected as one of two cellists who had the pleasure of performing at the GRAMMY Salute to Classical Music luncheon, in honour of Mstislav Rostropovich. In the following years he studied with Chu Yi-Bing, Wen-Sinn Yang and Michel Strauss. He has also benefited from important artistic stimuli in masterclasses with Yehuda Hanani, Richard Aaron, David Geringas, Yo-Yo Ma, Heinrich Schiff, Natalia Gutman, Truls Mørk, Arto Noras, Miklos Perenyi, Peter Bruns, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Janos Starker and Troels Svane. In addition, he receives a scholarship from the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein, where he regularly participates in the intensive music weeks and other activities.
Benjamin Lai has won prizes at several prestigious competitions: In 2006 he won first prize at the “International David Popper Competition” in Varpalota (Hungary), and in 2009 he was awarded second prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary set piece at the “4th International Dotzauer Competition for Young Cellists” in Dresden. He won second prize at the “International Hindemith Competition” in Berlin in October 2011, and in August 2012 he won the audience first prize and the “Charles-Ives” prize at the “TONALi Competition” in Hamburg. Following his success at the 11th “TSO Star of Tomorrow” auditions, Benjamin Lai celebrated his debut in Taiwan with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in January 2016.
Benjamin Lai has performed as a soloist with the “Neue Sinfonieorchester Berlin”, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the “Philharmonie Baden-Baden” in renowned halls such as the Berlin Konzerthaus and the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. Furthermore, he has participated in numerous festivals, such as the Aspen Music Festival in the USA, the “Festival International des Jeunes Étoiles” in France, the “Kissinger Sommer” in Germany, and the FESTIVAL NEXT GENERATION in Switzerland.
January 2018