BEN PAWLAK

pianist

Benjamin Pawlak is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School where he completed a masters degree in collaborative piano under Jonathan Feldman and Lydia Brown. An alum of Texas Christian University, he received a masters of music in piano performance there while studying with John Owings, and holds bachelor of music in piano performance from Ithaca College where he studied with Vadim Serebryany, Jennifer Hayghe, and the late Greg DeTurck. At Juilliard, he performed as a member of ensembles such as the Juilliard Orchestra and AXIOM, and appeared twice as a performer in ChamberFest at Lincoln Center. During his time in New York City, Benjamin has also performed at venues such as Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Center, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. Other appearances include performances in Juilliard's Sonatenabend and Liederabend series. In the summer of 2021, Benjamin attended the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. There he performed as a collaborative piano fellow studying under Jonathan Feldman, Margaret McDonald, and Natasha Kislenko. At the 2018 Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, he attended as a solo and chamber musician while studying with Catherine Lysinger, Read Gainsford, and Jennifer Hayghe. In addition to performing, Benjamin has written music for solo piano, voice and piano, and film. He placed as a finalist in the 2020 Indie Film Music Contest and has performed his solo piano works in both the United States and Europe. The five-track digital EP Empty Corners was released on his YouTube page in 2020, which was a project utilizing limited compositional resources during the world's hiatus from concerts. The film and music was created entirely by the composer, and was the first major collaboration between Benjamin and his music editor, Molly Sanford. He then became a co-founder of Ravendor Studios in order to continue producing works digitally. Benjamin, a native of Horseheads, New York, lives in Manhattan and works as a freelance pianist and composer.