Where are they now? Violin alumna, Rebecca Benjamin
July 12th, 2020
Rebecca Benjamin | MIC Academy graduating class of 2013
After graduating from the Music Institute of Chicago Academy program in 2013, violinist Rebecca Benjamin attended the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) where she completed her undergraduate (2017) and master's degree (2019). While at the Cleveland Institute, she studied with Jaime Laredo, Jan Sloman, Joel Smirnoff and Bill Preucil. During that time she was an active performer and served as concertmaster for the New York String Orchestra seminar at Carnegie Hall, played as a member of the Akron Symphony, soloed with CIM orchestra and performed with the New World Symphony. In addition, she was an ambassador for the Doublestop Foundation as an instrument recipient, was involved with community outreach in the greater Cleveland area for children and the elderly. She also attended the Prussia Cove Masterclasses in England and traveled to the Dominican Republic to perform chamber orchestra concerts.
Additional chamber music activites included participation in the Wu Han/Finkel Chamber music program at Aspen, attending the Perlman Music Program, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Beethoven Institute, and Mimir Chamber Music Festival. Through the Perlman Music Program, she had the pleasure of offering chamber music outreaches for the local schools on Long Island.
Benjamin is currently pursuing a post-graduate degree at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Hyo Kang and is a member of the Hartford Symphony. She has formed a piano trio, based in New York City with colleagues she met at Kneisel Hall. She also teaches in Connecticut and regularly perform in New York City and surrounding areas. In 2019 she returned to the Music Institute to perform the Bach Double Concerto with fellow MIC alumna Laura Park, Academy Artistic Director and conductor James Setapen and the orchestra. Benjamin writes, "I am forever indebted to the Vamoses and the Academy for shaping who I am both as a human and as a musician."