Exciting young American cellist Benjamin Elton Capps enjoys an extraordinarily versatile performing career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral principal. His recently released recording of Andrew Violette´s Songs and Dances (Innova) won raves from the Holland Times which hailed Benjamin as a "young cello phenomenon from New York" with "dazzling technique and a fearsomely meaty tone", and his playing has been praised as "most appealing" by the New York Times and "rich…and human" by the New York Sun. He has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall´s Stern Auditorium, Weill Hall and Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center´s Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Rose Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Mann Hall in Tel Aviv, Meyerson Hall in Dallas, and the Auditorio Nacional, the Palace of Fine Arts and Sala Nezahualcoytl in Mexico City. He has appeared as soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, the Manhattan School of Music Composer´s Orchestra, New York Concerti Sinfonietta, and his performance of the Schumann Cello Concerto at the 2010 Music Festival of the Americas in Vermont was hailed as "virtuosic and impassioned" (Barre Montpelier Times). Performance highlights in 2010 include recital tours, by invitation, to the Peoples´ Republic of China, with performances in Xiamin, Fouzhou and Gulangyu, and recital appearances in New York, Athens, Greece and Burgos, Spain.

Mr. Capps is the principal cellist of Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, a dynamic symphony orchestra founded by conductor Alondra de la Parra dedicated to performing the music of the American Continent. Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas´ double CD on Sony Classics, Mi Alma Mexicana, was released in August 2010 and recently went gold.
An avid chamber musician, he has participated in the Bowdoin, Schlern Int´l (Italy), Burgos Int´l (Spain) and Summit Summer Festivals, the Perlman Music Program, and the ChamberFest and FOCUS! Festivals in Lincoln Center. Mr. Capps has made numerous appearances on Manhattan´s Tactus Series, and has performed on Trinity Church´s Music at One series, and at Bargemusic, and founded the Capanglia Trio, the Sonar Players, and the New York Chamber Collective.

An ardent performer of new music, he is committed to performing new music of today´s composers. The Sonar Players, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary American chamber music founded by Mr. Capps, opened Bargemusic´s Here and Now Series of contemporary American chamber music in June, 2007 with a program of the music of George Crumb. Mr. Capps has given numerous premier performances of new cello works, including Daniel Vezza Pulsations for Cello and Chamber Orchestra (composed for Mr. Capps), Marcus Paus Cello Sonnets, Anna Klein Fits and Starts, Daniel Vezza Circles, and Robert Karpay´s Cello Concerto. His recording of Andrew Violette´s Songs and Dances for unaccompanied cello on Innova Records was released in June 2010.

Mr. Capps is passionate about music education and community outreach. He is a Teaching Assistant at Juilliard, a position he has held since 2009. Since 2008, he has taught in Philharmonic Orchestra of the America´s Arts and Education Program, an innovative program in partnership with the New York City Department of Education which encourages artistic creativity by introducing young public school students to the fundamentals of music composition.

A native of New York City, Benjamin Capps began playing the cello at age four with Nellis DeLay at Manhattan´s School For Strings, continuing at Juilliard Pre-College with Anne Alton and modern cello guru Fred Sherry. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music in 2008, and was awarded a Master of Music Degree from Juilliard in May 2010, both under the guidance of David Soyer. He is the recipient of many awards, including the New York State Association of Music Teachers Scholarship Competition 1999; Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, Concerto Competition, 2001, the Lillian Fuchs Award, 2004, the Francis Goelet Scholarship, Juilliard 2008-2009, and the Irving Mulde Scholarship, Juilliard, 2009-10. He has coached with numerous cellists, among them Bernard Greenhouse, Ko Iwasaki, Paul Katz, and Nathanial Rosen, has performed in master class for Steven Isserlis Alexander Rudin, Mischa Maisky, Natalia Gutman, Peter Wylie, Timothy Eddy, Matt Haimowitz and Jonathan Biss, and has coached chamber music with Joseph Kalichstein, Sylvia Rosenberg, Isidore Cohen, Seymour Lipkin, Alexander Slobodyanik, Andre Michel Schub, and Vivian Weilerstein. Mr. Capps makes his home in New York City.