Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Conductor in Residence of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Previously Resident Guest Conductor of the Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra (2002-2006) and Principal Conductor of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra (2007-2010), Limelight Magazine named him Australian Artist of the Year in 2018.
Benjamin also appears regularly as a guest conductor with all major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia (Turandot, L’elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand Opera (Sweeney Todd) and State Opera South Australia (La sonnambula, L’elisir d’amore, Les contes d’Hoffmann). His international appearances include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the New Zealand Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras.
With a progressive and diverse approach to repertoire, he has collaborated with a broad range of artists including Maxim Vengerov, Julian Rachlin, Karen Gomyo, Piers Lane, Alban Gerhardt, Johannes Moser, Amy Dickson, Slava Grigoryan and Marc[1]André Hamelin as well as popular artists Tim Minchin, KD Lang, Kate Miller-Heidke, the late Barry Humphries, Kurt Elling, James Morrison and Tori Amos.
Benjamin is highly active in the performance of Australian orchestral music, having premiered numerous major new works by Brett Dean, Peter Sculthorpe, Elena Kats-Chernin, Matthew Hindson and many others. An Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, his awards include the prestigious 2010 Melbourne Prize Outstanding Musician’s Award and the 2002 Brian Stacey Memorial Scholarship.
In 2023, he conducts the Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Tasmanian and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
Photo credit: Laura Manariti