Benjamin Vary

Announcing

Biography

Benjamin Vary holds the honour of being the first Australian to have graduated from the renowned conducting class of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he studied with Jorma Panula, Eri Klas, Atso Almila and Leif Segerstam. Vary also worked intensively under the guidance of Ilja Musin at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and Christoph Eschenbach at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo. Previously, Vary completed postgraduate studies in conducting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

Since making his professional debut with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the 1999 International Barossa Music Festival, Benjamin Vary has conducted orchestras in Denmark, Norway, Australia, Spain, Italy (Siena Chamber Orchestra and Sofia Symphony Orchestra), France’s Orchestre National du Capitole du Toulouse, the UK’s Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and almost all of the orchestras in Finland, most notably the St Michel Strings and the Tampere Philharmonic.

In 2000, Vary made his Danish debut with The Danish National Opera (Den Jyske Opera) and the Sønderjyllands Symphony Orchestra conducting Drot og Marsk (The King & the Commander) by the Danish composer, Peter Heise (stylistically akin to Wagner). Here, Vary worked with then Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera, Kaspar Holten.

Returning in the 2001 season, Vary created a new touring production of Puccini’s Tosca with the Aalborg, Odense and Sønderjyllands Symphony Orchestras, collaborating with director Troels Kold and an international cast, receiving rave reviews and standing ovations at most of the 17 performances. Other operatic works in Vary’s repertoire include Der Schauspieldirektor (Mozart), L’Elisir d’Amore (Donizetti), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), The Wandering Scholar (Holst), Trouble in Tahiti (Bernstein), The Medium (Menotti), The Turn of the Screw (Britten), Il Signor Bruschino (Rossini), Eine Nacht in Venedig (J.Strauss II) and La Voix Humaine (Poulenc).

Vary also prepared the Brisbane Festival’s 1998 Australian-première production of Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face, working closely with the composer both in Brisbane and in Minneapolis, USA.

August 2000 saw the release of Vary’s first commercial recording on the Warner Music label, conducting the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Dance Gundah, the world’s first concerto for didjeridu written by Philip Bracanin. Among other works, Vary has also recorded Bracanin’s Cello Concerto and Piano Concertino, works that are frequently aired on Australian radio. Autumn 2003 saw him making an EBU recording of Brahms’ Third Symphony with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

An active promoter of the contemporary music of Scandinavia as well, Vary was invited by the Finnish Society of Composers to perform with Helsinki’s Zagros Ensemble at the 2000 Nordic Music Days. In autumn 2006, he established his own contemporary group, Ensemble Tjalfi to create the Finnish-première production of Peter Maxwell-Davies’ The No.11 Bus for the Finnish Chamber Opera.

In addition to his conducting, Vary also hopes to complete a book about conducting based on Ilja Musin’s teaching principles. This would include extracts of Musin’s own On Teaching Conducting in their first English translation. Benjamin Vary can communicate additionally in French, German and Finnish, and resides in Helsinki. He has been awarded the Dalley-Scarlett Memorial Scholarship, a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship, and prizes from the Queen Elizabeth II Trust and the Australia Council.

(s.1971) Benjamin Varyn musiikkiopinnot alkoivat pianosoitolla kuuden vuoden vanhana, huilun soiton hän aloitti kahdentoista ikäisenä.  Opiskeltuaan yliopistossa pääaineinaan musiikki, ranska ja saksa hän lähti kotimaastaan Australiasta 21 vuoden ikäisenä taskussaan todistus (B.Mus) erinomaisin arvosanoin ja lisäksi stipendi Japaniin ja Skotlantiin.  Glasgow’ssa Vary ensimmäisen kerran kuuli Jorma Panulasta ja näin päätyi tulemaan Helsingin Sibelius Akatemiaan päästen vuonna 1995 ensimmäiselle sisäänpääsysijalle.  Akatemiassa Vary työkenteli kiinteästi Eri Klasin, Atso Almilan ja Leif Segerstamin kanssa.  Vary suorittikin orkesterin johtamisen diplomityön Vaasan kaupunginorkesterin kanssa 1998 ja sai tästä parhaan arvosanan, ja musiikin maisterin todistuksen hän sai keväällä 2000.

Sen jälkeen Vary on ohjannut monia muita orkestereita Suomessa, Tanskassa, Norjassa, Venäjällä, Australiassa, Italiassa, Espanjassa, Ranskassa (Orchestre National du Capitole du Toulouse) ja Iso-Britaniassa (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic).  Häntä on poikkeuksetta ylistetty, ei ainoastaan äänen kauneudesta, jonka hän saa esille orkesterista, vaan myös tulkinnoista, jotka ovat sekä viimeisteltyjä että täynnä tunnetta.

“…Vary oli hionut konserton soinnin ja kudoksen vivahteikkaan läpikuultavaksi.  Koko konsertista Vary oli rakentanut venetsialaisen musiikkirunoelman, pakenevien, kauniiden illuusioiden sarjan.”

(Hannu-Ilari Lampila, Helsingin Sanomat)

“…Nuori, australialaissyntyinen kapellimestari Benjamin Vary oli välillä suorastaan konsertin kantava voima.  Hänen työskentelyään saattoi vain ihastella.  Vary toi Vaasan kaupunginorkesterin parhaat puolet esille ja hallitsi tilannetta ensitahdeista lähtien.  Sympaattisuudellaan hän sai yleisönkin syttymään.”

(Piia Mikkola, Pohjalainen, Vaasa)

“…Kapellimestari Benjamin Varyn tulkinta keskittyy selkeyteen, soitin ja musiikin rakenteeseen.  Tiiviin hallitusti Aalborgin sinfoniaorkesteri soitii virheettömästi koko kolmen osan ajan.”

(Nordjyske Stiftstidende, Aalborg)

“…Adelaiden orkesterin jäsenet ylittivät itsensä… kauniisti joustava ja tasapainoinen tulkinta Debussy’n Preludista Faunin iltapäivään… riemukas voimannäyte Stravinskyn Petrushkassa – voimakkaan täsmällistä.”

(The Adelaide Advertsier, Adelaide)

“…Suomessa opiskellut australialaisella on selkeä tekniikka ja hienostunut hallinta, hänen lämpönsä ja tunteensa syvyys lisäsivät huomattavasti esityksen jännitettä.  Odensen sinfoniaorkesteri soitti luottavaisesti ja kauniilla soinnilla, tasapaino oli miltei täydellistä, ja vaikka dramaattiset purkaukset pääsivät hyvin oikeuksiinsa, hänen ilmaisukykynsä perustuu pääsiassa pinnan alla liikkuvaan lyyriseen kiihkeyteen: viileiän kaipaavia linjoja ja syviä, lämpimä värejä, jotka antavat draamalle tunteikasta kiihkeyttä.”

(Jan Jacoby, Politiken, Kööpenhamina)

“… orkesteri soitti hehkuvin värein ja intensiivisesti nuoren Benjamin Vary’n (jälleen yksi Jorma Panulan suomalaisesta koulusta) tahtipuikon alla, jonka tarkkaa, erottelevaa orkesterin johdatusta oli ilo huomoida.”

(Århus Stiftstidende, Århus)

Benjamin Vary on erittäin kiinnostunut oopperasta, baletista ja musiikkiteatterista. Vuoden 2000 alkupuolella hänellä oli ensiesiintymisensä Tankassa Tanskan kansallisoopperassa, missä hän johti tanskalaisten “Wagnerin” Peter Heisen säveltämän Drot og Marsk.  Tämä ooppera laulettiin maan kotikielellä, oopperalla on tanskalaisille samanlainen kansallinen merkitys kuin suomalaisille on Pohjalaisilla.   Vary kutsuttiin takaisin johtamaan Puccinin Toscan uutta esitystä, joka esitettiin kiertueella Tanskassa ja Saksassa ja jonka näyttelijäkaarti oli kansainvälistä.  Seitsemästätoista esityksestä ennätysmäiset yksitoista sai aplodit yleisön seistessä.

Benjamin Varylle on myönnetty Australian “Channel Nine-Young Achiever of the Year Award’in” taidepalkinto, palkintoja Queen Elizabeth II Trust and Australia Council’ista sekä huomattava  Rotarisäätiön “lähettilään stipendi”.

behind the scenes

Listen

Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, cond. Benjamin Vary

Bracanin: Dance Gundah - 2. Andante

Queensland Symphony Orchestra, cond. Benjamin Vary, didjeridu Matthew Boyle

Puccini: Che gelida manina (La Bohème)

Vaasa City Orchestra, cond. Benjamin Vary, tenor Mika Pohjonen

Brahms: Symphony No.3, iii Poco Allegretto

Norwegian Radio Orchestra, cond. Benjamin Vary

Compositions / Arrangements

Composer

Title

Instrumentation

Bridge, Frank
Gondoliera
Solo viola, harp and string orchestra
Franz Grüber
Stille Nacht (Silent Night)
Voice, harp, string orchestra
Lloyd-Webber, Andrew
With One Look from Sunset Boulevard
Solo mezzo soprano, 3.2.3.2 4.3.3.1 timp, perc(2), hp, pno, strings
Martin, Frank
Trois Chants de Noël
Soprano, flute, harp, string orchestra (4.3.2.2.1)
Mendelssohn
Song without words no.9 (Op.50 no.3)
1.1.2.1 2.0.0.0 timp, harp, strings
Monteverdi
Ecco mormorar l’onde, SV 51
Solo strings 3.2.2.2.1
Poulenc
La Voix Humaine, Opera in one act
1.1.1.1 1.1.1.0 timp, harp, strings 1.1.1.1.1
Prokofiev
The Ugly Duckling, Op.18
Soprano, fl, cl, bsn, hrn, pno, vln, vc

Teaching

Benjamin is also an accomplished teacher with over two decades experience in teaching flute and piano, in addition to his vocal coaching and guest lecturing.

In 2001, he founded his own company, Prospero Music, with the aim of providing music tuition in English to Finland’s growing expatriate community. It still exists today as a modest, private music school, working in co-operation with The English School in central Helsinki.

H.C.Andersen Tribute

H.C. Andersen Tribute

A family concert designed by Benjamin Vary and Eija Oravuo for the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen.

Featuring actor Riko Eklundh (Hovimäki TV series) as H.C. Andersen and soprano Piia Komsi as Jenny Lind, the project illustrates Andersen’s best loved stories; The NightingaleThe Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid.

Music by Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Mendelssohn.

The No.11 Bus

Director, Kristiina Helin, takes Peter Maxwell Davies’ apocalyptic yet comical music-theatre piece about the bus route through London, and transforms it into a full-blown, operatic triumph.

Though the work is a living snapshot of the 1980’s, this fine production by the Finnish Chamber Opera brings the action forward to the present day: offering a bitter critique of preaching (be it through religion or commerce) and excessive consumption.

Characters lifted from the faces of tarot cards interact with the every-day in a world where medieval symbolism and modern surrealism meet.

Rated for mature audiences only.

“… Vary conducts a masterly ensemble of players with a skill that is characteristic to every detail in this production, from the casting to the large-scale, staging decisions.”

(Helsingin Sanomat, Helsinki)

Composition & libretto: Peter Maxwell Davies.
Conductor: Benjamin Vary
Director: Kristiina Helin
Scenery and puppets: Kaisa Rasila
Costumes and masks: Emilia Eriksson
Puppet choreography: Satu Paavola
Producer: Risto Hirvonen

Cast:
Essi Luttinen (mezzo soprano)
Petri Bäckström (tenor)
Jussi Merikanto (bass baritone)
Reijo Kela (dance & improvisations)
Esko Mäkelä (improvisations)

Orchestra (6 musicians):
Bernadette Bogányi (flute/piccolo)
Eeva Mäenluoma (clarinet/bass clarinet)
Tuomo Lassila (percussion)
Harri Karri (piano/celeste)
Jukka Merjonen (violin)
Joel Laakso (violoncello)

My Lord the Duke

My Lord the Duke (aka Herrani Herttua! or Mein Herr Marquis) is an enchanting evening of sparkling, elegant arias from lyric opera, operetta and musicals, designed by Benjamin Vary to showcase a soubrette soprano and Italian tenor.

The musical programme is based on the delightful story of two colourful characters: a love-struck Duke, and a conniving, coquettish chambermaid who plays on her employer’s desperate affections.

Well-known melodies are complemented with sophisticated costumes and surprising props.  The audience can follow the arias in their original language with the help of printed translations.  My Lord the Duke is particularly suitable as a Saint Valentine’s Day concert.

Recorded excerpts:

Donizetti: Quel guardo il cavaliere from Don Pasquale

Rossini: Ah! Donate il caro sposo from Il Signor Bruschino

Puccini: Nessun dorma from Turandot

Verdi: Signor ne principe io lo vorrei from Rigoletto

Ponchielli: Ballet Music from La Gioconda

Puppets on a String

A children’s concert made in collaboration with puppeteer Aapo Repo, dancer Carmen Rodergas and director Jyrki Tamminen, in which various pieces of a Double Bass spring to life.  (C’mon, you have to admit it would be fun to dissect one!)

Music by Mozart, Uuno Klami and Bartók

Tarja Turunen Halloween

A Halloween themed collaboration with operatically-trained, heavy-metal star-soprano, Tarja Turunen, and actor Sami Uotila as Igor the Hunchback.

The programme showcases film composers and standard repertoire, combined with Benjamin Vary’s arrangements for full symphony orchestra of Turunen’s hit songs.

Featuring works by Danny Elfman, Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, John Williams, Mussorgsky, Gounod and Dukas.

Benjamin’s arrangement of Tarja’s Witch-hunt appears in her television production, Beauty and the Beat.

See Witch-hunt on Youtube

Prospero Music

“Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.”
Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Prospero Music provides the highest standards in music education.  As the name suggests, the goal is induce your abilities to flourish and prosper, or perhaps put more modestly, to “bring out the best” in you.

Do I have the talent to study music?

At Prospero we dispense with conventional, competitive definitions of “talent”… namely, the myths that “talented” people are innately better at certain disciplines, or that “untalented” people should focus their energies elsewhere.

Everybody has talent – because talent is merely the result of successfully combining the following:

  • An inspiring teacher
  • Interest on the part of the student
  • A supportive home environment
  • Discipline and a commitment to home practice

Personalities can be different, so each student may require different approaches or methodologies in order to be reached effectively.

Not everyone wants to be a virtuoso.  Most just want to pursue a hobby since an abundance of studies show that participation in music classes improves students’ self-expression, concentration, co-ordination and performance in other school subjects.

While the teacher may be primarily interested in the pupil’s musical development, it is important to recognize that music is an endeavour that can profoundly enrich an individual’s character.

Courses

Prospero Music offers a range of courses including:

  • Individual instrumental lessons
  • Group lessons
  • Ensemble
  • Music theory and ear-training
  • Concerts and Master classes

For more information about these courses and their prices, please contact:

prosperomusic@benjaminvary.com

Legal Notice

Prospero Music™ is a subsidiary of Prospero Enterprises Ltd.

“Bringing out the best”.  All rights reserved. 

Prospero Enterprises Ltd
PO Box 135
00101 Helsink
Finland