Benjamin Salman is an eighteen year old homeschooled student. He has been studying piano and composition seriously since the age of ten, though he has improvised on the piano for as long as he can remember. He lives in Seattle, where studies with his father, Mark Salman; he also attends the Seattle Conservatory of Music, where he participates in the performance, academic, and chamber music programs. In addition to winning second place in this year’s Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Concerto Competition, Benjamin was awarded first prize in the senior division of the romantic era competition at the Seattle International Piano Festival in 2012; in 2011 he was the second runner up in the Seattle Philharmonic’s Don Bushell Concerto Competition. For the last three years Benjamin has participated in the Seattle Young Composers Workshop. As part of that he has had his compositions performed at Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall by members of the Seattle Symphony.  In addition to music, his interests include history and geography; he came in 12th in the nation (1st in Washington State) in the 2009 National Geographic Geography Bee. He intends to study piano and composition in college, and particularly admires the music of Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, and Brahms.

Benjamin is the second-place winner of the BSO’s 2013 Young Artist Competition.