Rebecca Benjamin, Violin

Rebecca Benjamin, a 20-year-old violinist from Warsaw, Indiana, is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree with Joel Smirnoff and Joan Kwuon at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with many artists. Currently, Rebecca is in a quartet which was selected for the Intensive Quartet Seminar at the Cleveland Institute of Music. They are regularly coached by Peter Salaff, former member of the Cleveland Quartet and members of the Cavani Quartet. She played in a quartet of Music Institute of Chicago Academy students, Quartet Lumière, which won the Gold Medal in the Junior Division of the 2013 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

As winner of the Fort Wayne Young Artist Competition junior and senior levels, Rebecca soloed 25 times with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic at their Young People's Concerts. She has also soloed with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the MasterWorks Festival Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Youth Symphony, the Symphony of the Lakes, and the MIC Academy Chamber Orchestra. Additional highlights of her career have included a performance on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series at the Cultural Center in Chicago, and performances at the Harris Theater in Chicago, IL and the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC.

Master class instructors include artists such as Robert Lipsett, Joseph Silverstein and Ilya Kaler. Rebecca was awarded a fellowship for the 2014 Aspen Music Festival and has also participated in the MasterWorks Festival and the Chautauqua Music Festival. This summer, she will be participating in the Beethoven Institute, the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar and the Mimir Chamber Music Festival with the Ignaz String Quartet as well as the Perlman Music Program. In her free time, she enjoys biking and photography.