Ben West Takes New York By Storm
He’s Composed 12 Concertos For The NY Philharmonic, Was In Annie On Broadway, Sang And Danced In Macy’s Parade
by Glen Richardson
One of the Cherry Creek Valley’s most promising young composers and musicians is taking New York by storm. Audiences at the prestigious Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center reveled in the latest imaginative composition by Ben West played during three New York Philharmonic concerts — two on March 4 and another on March 5 of this year. Instrumentation for the piece titled Rite of Passage includes two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets and two bassoons. Also two horns, two trumpets, a tuba and timpani (kettledrum) plus strings were incorporated.
West, a Colorado native who won’t turn 15 until this summer, is gaining a larger-than-life persona with his powerhouse pieces of music. As a multi-talented composer and musician he is proving to be a hit with multiple projects in New York and Denver, receiving rave reviews. Notably, in New York he has also appeared in the Camp Broadway production of Annie at the Palace Theatre plus singing and dancing with Kermit the Frog on a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Locally he has played classical guitar with the Mile High Classical Ensemble, saxophone with the Soundhouse Funk Band plus performing as Fritz in the Nutcracker at the Vail Valley Academy.
Ben West had his first chance to participate in the Very Young Composer program at Vail in 2009, wrote Playbill — the New York magazine for theatergoers — of the youngster’s rapid rise as a gifted composer in its March issue. “Six years and 12 compositions later he is passionate about composing for classical and jazz ensembles. Ben is a musician in his own right, with 10 years of classical guitar training and six years of saxophone (Alto, Tenor and Baritone) lessons.” Of the seven young people selected to participate in the 2015 Philharmonic’s Young Composers program, West was the only non-New Yorker to have a composition selected.
Home Playground
The Chronicle first interviewed West after learning he had been asked and written music for none other than world-renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma at the Bravo Music Festival in Vail (Chronicle, Feb. 2014). The youngster, the Chronicle has learned is continuing to make a serious impact as a composer and musician after being invited to an intimate house concert in the Observatory Park neighborhood last month.
The event supporting The Playground’s new music creation and youth composition program included a special performance of West’s composition titled A Light At the End of the Tunnel initially performed by a string quartet of New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera musicians at the New York Chamber Music Festival last September. The piece was performed in the neighborhood concert here by the Playground’s string quartet consisting of Sarah Whitnah and Anna Morris, violin; Don Schumacher, viola and Richard vonFoerster, cello. They are artists-in-residence at DU’s Lamont School of Music, featuring the works of Colorado-based composers. The quartet also played Bela Bartok’s 6th, the final quartet written by Bartok (1939) before fleeing to the U.S. on the eve of World War II.
Conrad Kehn — founder of the DU-based Playground Ensemble — gave a multimedia presentation titled Evolution (Looking for God) during the home concert. Ben West takes private lessons from Kehn focusing on music theory plus classical and jazz composition mechanics. Kehn also happens to be one of two teaching artists for the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program.
Classical & Jazz Man
As a guitar man, West has performed with the Mile High Classical Ensemble plus in multiple Vail and Denver festivals. In Spain he has taken Master Classes with Roland Dyers at the Music Festival in Cardoba that each July becomes “guitar city.” Dyers is known for his extraordinary capacity for improvisation; this is unique among classical guitarists. West has also taken lessons at the Colorado Suzuki Institute and the Denver Suzuki Summit where he has studied with teachers such as Joe Pecoraro, Dave Madsen, Mir Ali, Kevin Hart, Seth Himmelhoch and Andrea Cannon.
West is the proud owner of a custom built Luthier guitar, one of perhaps 50 in Colorado. His grandparents gave the instrument to him as a bar mitzvah gift. A guitar built by a master Luthier can make the instrument feel like an extension of the musician’s hands. The late Jerry Garcia, Phish’s Trey Anastasio and Eric Clapton, play on Luthier instruments that were built for them.
As a jazz saxophonist he has performed with the Colorado Conservancy of the Jazz Arts and the Soundhouse Funk Band. West is a student at Kent Denver School known for its rich offerings in both performing and visual arts. He is a member of the Kent Denver Jazz Band. Downbeat Magazine ranks the R&B Ensemble at Kent the top high school pop, rock and blues band in the nation. Whether it is pieces of music he’s written or performances with or without a guitar or sax in hand, Valley music fans can expect to be treated to the talent of Ben West for years to come.
