Biography

Korean-American baritone Benjamin Ferriby is a recent recipient of the Margot Fassler Prize in the Performance of Sacred Music (Yale University, 2022). He began playing piano by ear at the age of three, less than a year after he had arrived in the United States from Ulsan, South Korea. This early affinity for music was nurtured during his time at the Saint Thomas Choir School in New York, NY, where he enrolled at the age of nine. It was during this time that he began to foster a deep admiration for the choral repertoire, performing daily with the internationally renowned Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, then under the music direction of John Scott, at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue.

 

During the 2022­–23 season, Benjamin was the featured baritone soloist in performances affiliated with the University Church in Yale (Buxtehude Gott hilf mir, BuxWV 34; J.S. Bach Nun komm der heiden Heiland, BWV 61; and de Lalande De Profundis, S.23); Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, Milford (Fauré Requiem); and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music (de Sumaya Albricias mortales and Celebren, publiquen, entonen, y canten; Schubert Magnificat in C major, D 486; and J.S. Bach Ihr werdet weinen und heulen, BWV 103). He also participated in a recording project with the Yale Schola Cantorum (Weir In the Land of Uz and Beach Canticle of the Sun, Op. 123), recorded on the Hyperion label; a choral evensong with James O’Donnell at Christ Church, New Haven; and a season-concluding performance at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Mendelssohn Lobgesang, Op. 52), directed by Jeffrey Douma.

 

During the 2021–22 season, Benjamin made a return to live performance, singing under the direction of notable conductors such as Gabriel Crouch, David Hill, André J. Thomas, Nic McGegan, and Masaaki Suzuki. Highlights of this season included participation in the launch of the New Muses Project at Merkin Hall; his solo debut at Alice Tully Hall (Haydn Schöpfungsmesse) with the Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415; solo features at Woolsey Hall (Duruflé Requiem, Op. 9; Brahms Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52; and Schmelli Musicalisches Gesang-Buch); additional solo features in Marquand Chapel (Mozart Regina coeli, K. 276; J.S. Bach Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182; and Mozart Great Mass in C minor, K. 437); and his graduate degree recital, where he premiered a commissioned collection of songs (Steinke Four Songs from “Under the Gold”).

 

Benjamin holds an MM from Yale University, where he studied voice with James Taylor, and a BM from DePauw University, where he studied voice with Kerry Lee Jennings and Italian Cultural Studies with Francesca Seaman. Currently residing in New Haven, CT, he can be heard on the Hyperion and Resonus labels.