Ben Geller
Hailing from Rockford, IL, violist Ben Geller began studying violin at the age of three and a half and started improvising soon after. He is currently a violist with Michael Tilson Thomas’ New World Symphony and the NFO. He has played with the National Repertory Orchestra and was the principal violist with the Bowdoin Festival Orchestra. Aside from orchestral and chamber music, Ben has played in big bands and small jazz combos, as well as in the rock chamber ensemble in Dave Malloy’s critically acclaimed and hugely popular rock opera Beowolf: A Thousand Years of Baggage. Ben has worked with musicians like vocalist Bobby McFerrin, violist Paul Neubauer, bassist David Murray, cellist William Grubb and violinist Davis Brooks, and has been awarded fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival, the New York Strings Seminar at Carnegie Hall, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Brevard Music Festival, and the Interharmony International Music Festival.
Ben holds a Master’s degree in viola from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor’s in music with a jazz minor from Butler University. His principal mentors have been Toby Appel, Catherine Carroll, John Graham, Michael Isaac Strauss, Michael Klotz and Scott Rawls. He studied violin with Larry Shapiro, and began jazz studies with trumpeter Mark Buselli and pianist Gary Walters.
