Ullery, Ben

He is a violist and violinist born in St. Paul, Minnesota who studied at the Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in violin and took further studies in violin at the New England Conservatory and at the Coburn School, where he studied viola.

He went on to work for three seasons with the Minnesota Orchestra and has since performed with many orchestras as Guest Principal Viola, that include the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra among others. He became the Assistant Principal Viola at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2012 and in 2023 became Associate Principal Viola.

Playing as a chamber musician he has given more than 50 performances at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s chamber music series and at several music festivals such as Aspen, Music in the Vineyards, Mainly Mozart and Grand Teton among others.

As a soloist he has given the premiere of his arrangement of Brahms’ Violin Sonata No.1 at La Sierra University and performed in other solo recitals.

He has appeared on broadcasts in Minnesota and Los Angeles and been a musician for soundtracks of the films It: Chapter Two, The Call of the Wild and The Suicide Squad.

The recordings he has performed on include Things You Already Know by Christopher Campbell, Viola Concert & Music for Viola by Paul Chihara, Excusez-Moi! by Exusamwa, Use Your Illusion I & II by Guns N’ Roses, John Adams: The Gospel According to the Other Mary, Louis Andriessen: Theatre of the World by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and In Your Eyes by Tony Morales.

In the field of musical education he is a faculty member as a teacher and coach at Los Angeles’ Coburn School and has given master classes at several universities and the Aspen Music Festival.

Sources:

Ullery, Ben

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