California State University
Dr. Benjamin Sorrell has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and with orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. A sought after performer and interpreter of repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary and is a proponent of the music of our time. This has led to performances with Kaliedoscope Chamber Orchestra, and Monday Evening Concerts Series in Los Angeles, at The Players Theatre and John Zorn’s The Stone in New York City, Helmut List Halle, Graz, Austria, the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Pendulum New Music Series, and a lecture-recital at the Daegu International Contemporary Music Festival in Daegu, South Korea. As an orchestral musician, Benjamin has had the opportunity to work under the batons of Hugh Wolff, Donald Palma, Carl St. Clair, Benjamin Zander, Yuga Cohler, Jung-Ho Pak, Gunther Schuller, Lucas Vis, and Beat Furrer.
Benjamin has been invited to participate in various music festivals including, International Music Institute Darmstadt (Germany), Habanera Academy (France), European Saxophone University (France), Impuls Ensemble Academy for Contemporary Music (Austria), Brevard Music Center (Brevard, NC), and the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (Boston, MA).
Benjamin is Saxophone and Chamber Music Lecturer at California State University, Northridge, and is on the faculty at Mount Saint Mary’s University, Los Angeles as well as Los Angeles Pierce College. He additionally maintains a large studio of private saxophone and clarinet students throughout Los Angeles County and is the saxophone/clarinet instructor at HYPERIUMconservatory in Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes.
Benjamin received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music, and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, both with Honors, from New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Kenneth Radnofsky. He was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society at both institutions. Additional studies with Claude Delangle, Marcus Weiss, Jean-Denis Michat, Arno Bornkamp, Vincent David, Jean-Michel Goury, Habanera Quartet, and Prism Quartet.