Biography
Learn more about Benjamin
Korean-American bass Benjamin Ferriby is a 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, and enrolled in private study shortly thereafter. This early affinity for music was nurtured throughout 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 vocal 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 2023–24 season, Benjamin was the featured bass soloist in performances affiliated with Saint James’s Episcopal Church, West Hartford (Fauré Requiem); Wesleyan University (Bach Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40 and Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140); and Yale University (Schütz Weihnachtshistorie, SWV 435 and Bach Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106). He also enjoyed performing with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart’s Junges Stuttgarter Bach Ensemble (Bach Johannespassion, BWV 245), directed by Kathy Romey and Hans-Christoph Rademann; the Yale Consort, directed by James O’Donnell; and the Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415 (Bach Messe in h-Moll, BWV 232), directed by David Hill.
Previous seasons have included performances in notable venues throughout the United Kingdom, Germany, and United States under the baton of notable conductors such as Marguerite Brooks, Gabriel Crouch, Jeffrey Douma, Matthew Halls, David Hill, Ann Howard Jones, Nic McGegan, James O’Donnell, John Scott, Masaaki Suzuki, André Thomas, and others.
Benjamin holds an MM from Yale University, where he studied voice with James Taylor and performed in masterclasses with Masaaki Suzuki, Nic McGegan, and Roderick Williams; a BM from DePauw University, where he studied voice with Kerry Lee Jennings and Italian Cultural Studies with Francesca Seaman; and has trained at the Tanglewood Institute. He can be heard on the Hyperion and Resonus labels.
