Violist Benjamin Chilton

enjoys a varied career as a performer and educator. His most recent work includes a section position with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, appearances with the Dallas Chamber Symphony and with the New Texas Sinfonia as principal violist. Additionally, Benjamin has appeared with the Tesserae Baroque Ensemble in Los Angeles, with the Dallas Symphony on NPR’s From the Top. and the New York Philharmonic at the Music Academy of the West. In chamber music, Benjamin has been a Young Artist in Residence with the Da Camera Chamber Music Society of Los Angeles and part of the featured quartet at Rencontres Franco Américaines de Musique Chambre in Missillac, France. He has collaborated with the Calidore Quartet and Ramon Ortega with the Colburn Chamber Music Society, and with pianist Jeremy Denk at the Music Academy of the West. He has performed in recital alongside luminaries such as Richard O’Neill, François Salque, and Peter Lloyd.

As an educator, Benjamin maintains a private studio, Forte Piano Strings, with his family, where he teaches pre-college violinists and violists. His students have placed successfully at their TMEA All-State auditions and actively participate in local youth orchestras such as the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra and the Dallas Asian American Youth Orchestra. He has been invited as an All-Region clinician with Allen ISD, sectional coach for orchestra programs in Frisco and Lovejoy ISD, and taught programs through the Music Academy of the West, Concordia University, and the Santa Monica Youth Orchestra. He has also been an educator for the This Ability Orchestra in Los Angeles, an orchestra for special needs children.

Benjamin has also been named 2nd Place in the National American String Teachers Association competition in the Senior Viola division, been featured on the cover of The Strad Magazine, and appeared on NBC’s The Voice.

Benjamin currently holds a Masters of Music Degree from the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where he studied with Paul Coletti. Previously, he graduated the University of Southern California with a Bachelors in Viola Performance, where he studied with professors Don McInnes and Che-Yen Brian Chen. In his youth, he studied violin with professor Julia Bushkova and viola with Dr. Susan Dubois.