Benjamin Smith

Described as a “thoughtful and immensely exciting performer” with “scintillating technique” (Barrie Examiner), pianist Benjamin Smith has performed as soloist and chamber musician across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. He has been a laureate of numerous competitions, including the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition and the CMC Stepping Stone Competition. Guest appearances include the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Las Vegas Young Artists Orchestra, the Ontario Philharmonic, Orchestra London, the Burlington Symphony, and the Windsor Symphony. As soloist, his repertoire includes several rarities, such as the Schoenberg and Schnittke piano concertos. Festival performances include repeat appearances at Toronto Summer Music, Music Niagara, Festival del Lago (Mexico), and New Park (Ithaca, NY). American performances include recitals for the Texas Chopin Society and Chicago’s Landowska Harpsichord Society, as well as two concerts in Carnegie Hall, one being Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue with the Hart House Orchestra on their 40th-anniversary tour. The fall of 2025 sees the release of two albums on the Orchid Classics label, the first with cellist Daniel Hamin Go, and the second with oboist Ari Cohen Mann.

Devoting considerable time to chamber music, Ben has been heard nationally in Canada on CBC Music, as well as radio broadcasts in the UK. He has partnered in recital with a myriad of internationally-renowned artists, as well as with ensembles such as the Penderecki, Cecilia, Annex, and Tokai string quartets. For two seasons he performed as one-third of the Israelievitch-Smith-Ahn piano trio, and has recently been playing as a member of the Andromeda Trio. The upcoming season sees concerts across Canada, including a Beethoven violin sonata cycle for the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, and a two-piano recital for the Royal Conservatory Masters series in Toronto.

Residing in Toronto, Dr. Smith currently serves on the faculties of both the Glenn Gould School (GGS) and the Taylor Young Artist Academy at the Royal Conservatory. His principal teachers have included Andrea Battista, James Anagnoson, Julian Martin, and Christina Dahl. Along with a DMA from Stony Brook University, he holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Toronto, an Artist Diploma from the GGS, and a Masters from Juilliard.