about the arranger

The Instrumentalist

Born in 1967, Ben studied at The Southport School in Queensland, Australia before moving to Melbourne to attend the Victorian College of the Arts School. After graduating in Music Performance on Trumpet from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1988, he went on to perform regularly with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra whilst also working with the  Adelaide, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, State Orchestra Victoria and the English Baroque Sinfonia. From 1991-1993 he was 1st Trumpet in the orchestra for Phantom of the Opera, in its Australian debut and record breaking season. 

In 1999 Ben joined the Royal Australian Air Force Band as a Principal Trumpet and Bugler where he also founded the Air Force Brass Quintet. Across two decades of performances, most notably including those with the Air Force Brass Quintet, Ben also featured as bugler for multiple ANZAC Day dawn services and the Lone Pine service at Gallipoli in Turkey,  along with ANZAC Day dawn services at Villers-Bretonneux in France, multiple Last Post performances for the AFL ANZAC Day match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the ANZAC Day dawn service in Melbourne.

The Arranger

It was early in his career Ben recognised he had an exceptional skill for music arranging and orchestration. In 1994, he returned to the VCA, Melbourne University to complete an Honours Degree in arranging and conducting. Finding there to be a lack of quality brass chamber music, he began producing bespoke arrangements for trombone quartet and trombone choir, whilst adding to the brass quintet and brass ensemble repertoire. In the following years, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Low Brass performed Ben’s arrangements as did the Tasmanian Symphony Brass Ensemble and the Sydney Trombone Quartet.

In 2003, Ben produced brass ensemble arrangements for the inaugural Melbourne International Festival of Brass before composing arrangements for Melbourne Chamber Brass to perform at the festival the following year. The Vienna Trombone Quartet also began recording his work and performed a number of arrangements at the 2009 Melbourne International Festival of Brass. In 2010 the Sydney Symphony Brass performed his arrangements as a part of their concert series. Ben also contributed arrangements for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Sydney, as a part of his role as Music Arranger in the Royal Australian Air Force Band.

Over the last few years the Vienna Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic Brass have also performed Ben’s work whilst the Vienna Trombone Quartet released a new CD titled “Orchestral Essence & Roots” featuring his arrangements ‘crafted to perfection’ for the ensemble.