Ben Hong 洪本倫, Cellist
BEN HONG joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1993, at age 24, making him the youngest member of the orchestra at that time. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Ben won his native country’s National Cello Competition three years in a row before leaving home, at 13, for the Juilliard School. Later he studied with Lynn Harrell at the University of Southern California School of Music before joining the LA Phil.
In addition to performing with the LA Phil as the assistant principal cellist, he also performs frequently as soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles. Ben has collaborated with such artists as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Lynn Harrell, Janine Jansen, Lang Lang, Cho-Liang Lin, Bobby McFerrin, Christopher O’Riley, Sir Simon Rattle, Shanghai String Quartet, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lars Vogt, and Long Yu.
Ben’s desire to grow musically has resulted in a number of diverse performance opportunities. In June of 2000, he gave the US premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s cello concerto “Kai” with Rattle conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Ojai festival. Then in 2006, Ben performed a Bach Cello Suite with the local hip-hop orchestra, DaKah, at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the annual Grand Avenue Festival. That performance inspired a passion for improvisation, which he continues to develop with violinist/singer Lili Haydn. His improvisation with Lili was spotlighted by Alex Ross in a 2007 article in the New Yorker Magazine focusing on the LA Phil.
In May of 2007 on the Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Ben performed the Philharmonic premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s In Croce. Classical music critic Alan Rich described it as “an amazing work for cello (the Philharmonic’s Ben Hong) and organ (Mark Robson), ecstatic and ecstatically played: hypnotic, intense, an unceasing 19-minute mantra.” In July of 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl, he was the soloist for the LA Phil premiere of Tan Dun’s “Crouching Tiger Concerto,” conducted by Long Yu. Los Angeles Times Music Critic Mark Swed said, “This was 26 minutes of really enchanting music played really well. The amplification was cranked up high yet without distortion, and the Bowl was magically bathed in Hong’s bold, gorgeous tone.”
Most recently, Ben was hired by Dreamworks to train several members of the cast of the upcoming movie, “The Soloist”, including Jamie Foxx and Tom Hollander. He also served as an on-set technical advisor. The movie is based on Steve Lopez’s columns in the Los Angeles Times about Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a former Juilliard student who ended up on the streets of Los Angeles homeless and schizophrenic yet held tight to his music. Ben’s playing will be featured on the film’s soundtrack.
Ben’s other interests include working on and riding his three sports motorcycles, bicycling, scuba diving, martial arts, and West African drumming.
大提琴演奏家洪本倫1993加入洛杉磯愛樂管弦樂團，當時24歲的他是團裡最年輕的成員。洪本倫出生在台灣，曾經連續三年贏得全臺灣大提琴比賽冠軍，13歲考取茱莉亞音樂學院，接著進入南加州大學桑頓音樂學校，跟著大提琴家Lynn Harrell學習。洪本倫除了在洛杉磯愛樂管弦樂團擔任助理首席大提琴手之外，他同時也在許多樂團擔任大提琴獨奏，和許多著名的音樂人及演奏家合作表演，包括Emanuel Ax，Yefim Bronfman，Lynn Harrell，Janine Jansen，朗朗，林昭亮，Bobby McFerrin，Christopher O’Riley，Sir Simon Rattle，Shanghai String Quartet，Esa-Pekka Salonen，Lars Vogt，以及指揮家余隆。
他對音樂的熱情，創造出表演上多元呈現的各種可能。2000年6月，在Rattle的指揮下，洛杉磯愛樂管弦樂團在Ojai音樂節演奏了英國作曲家Mark-Anthony Turnage 大提琴協奏曲”Kai”。2006年格蘭大道街頭慶典時，洪本倫和洛杉磯當地嬉哈樂團達卡(DaKah)在迪士尼音樂廳合作了巴哈大提琴組曲。這場表演激發了他即興創作的熱情，他和小提琴家兼歌手Lili Haydn合作，持續進行即興創作。2007年紐約客雜誌記者Alex Ross注意到他們的音樂，經過報導後，得到廣大迴響。2008年7月洛杉磯愛樂的夏日好萊塢音樂會，由余隆擔任指揮，洪本倫初次演奏著名作曲家譚盾的作品”臥虎藏龍”。洛杉磯報樂評Mark Swed形容：這26分鐘的演出令人眩目。音樂表現高昂熱情不失真切，整個音樂廳沉浸在洪本倫華麗而無拘無束的音符中。前陣子洪本倫應電影公司夢工廠邀約，在電影”獨奏者”中指導好萊塢明星傑米福克斯和湯姆荷蘭德大提琴，並擔任片中藝術指導及電影配樂。這部電影是根據「洛杉磯時報」記者洛佩茲（Steve Lopez）專欄改編，描寫一位遊民納撒尼爾•安東尼•艾爾(Nathaniel Anthony Ayers)曾在著名的茱莉亞音樂學院就讀，即使最後患有精神分裂症流落街頭，仍掩蓋不了其音樂天賦的故事。
Source from http://www.benhong.net/biography.php
