Biography

Korean-American bass-baritone 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, New York, where he enrolled at the age of nine. It was during this time that he began to foster a deep admiration for keyboard and 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.

 

Highlights of his 2025–26 season included the East Coast premiere of Siddhartha, She — a new oratorio by composer Christopher Theofanidis and librettist Melissa Studdard that reimagines Herman Hesse’s literary classic — with the Yale Choral Artists and Yale Philharmonia; 2026 Month of Moderns series with the multi-Grammy-winning The Crossing that featured world premieres of works by Nathalie Joachim, Nicole Lizée, and Julia Wolfe; Peter Boyer’s One Hundred Years On, a collaborative world premiere between The Crossing, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Highmark Mann Center; How to Survive — a filmed four-movement interdisciplinary project that addresses climate change in collaboration with The Crossing, The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, and The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia — which features world premieres of works by Hildur Guðnadóttir, Shara Nova, Julia Wolfe, and Ayanna Woods; and Ensemble Altera’s 2026 Summer Soirée in Wickford, RI.

 

He remains grateful to have spent the 2024–25 season in the United Kingdom, where he sang with the Choir of Canterbury Cathedral. While a resident of the cathedral precincts he sang six services per week, performed in several concerts (Handel Messiah, HWV 56 and Mozart Requiem, K. 626, among others), sang verse during BBC Radio 3 (400th Anniversary of Orlando Gibbons’ Death) and BBC Radio 4 (Easter Sunday) broadcasts, and recorded two albums on the Resonus label. He also presented a solo recital (Barber Dover Beach, Op. 3, among other selections) during Refugee Week, a week-long event series organized by Canterbury Cathedral, The Social Justice Network, and the Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN).

 

He has sung under the direction of Marguerite Brooks, Gabriel Crouch, Jeffrey Douma, Matthew Halls, David Hill, Ann Howard Jones, Christopher Lowrey, Nic McGegan, Donald Nally, David Newsholme, James O’Donnell, Anthony Parnther, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Jamie Rogers, Kathy Romey, John Scott, Masaaki Suzuki, and André Thomas, among others.

 

Benjamin holds an MM from Yale University and a BM from DePauw University. He continues private study with dear family friends and trusted mentors David Pittsinger and Patricia Schuman. His discography includes Matthew Martin: Choral Works (Resonus); Gabriel Jackson: Choral Works (Resonus); Weir: In the Land of Uz; Beach: The Canticle of the Sun (Hyperion); Fauré: Requiem, Ave Verum Corpus, Messe Basse, Tantum Ergo, Cantique de Jean Racine (STR to Resonus); Duruflé: Requiem; Howells: Requiem; Vaughan Williams: Valient for Truth (STR to Resonus); and O Sing Unto the Lord: Sacred Music of Henry Purcell (STR to Resonus).