An active chamber musician, Benjamin has participated in various chamber music academies such Seiji Ozawa Academy (2021, 2022) and in the summer of 2023 he played at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Bebersee Festival, Ryedale Festival, Krzyzowa Music and the Enescu Festival.
In February 2020 he recorded his first CD “Russian Mood” with the orchestra Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie Herford for the label Ars Production. For this recording he was nominated in 4 categories of the “OPUS KLASSIK 2022”.
Benjamin Kruithof was born in Luxembourg into a family of musicians and started playing the cello at the age of 5 at the "Conservatoire du Nord" with Raju Vidali. In recent years, Benjamin has studied with Professors such as Mirel Iancovici (Conservatorium Maastricht), and Maria Kliegel (Hfmt Köln). Since 2017 Benjamin is a student of Prof. Jens-Peter Maintz at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Benjamin received additional important musical training at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein.
In Autumn 2024, Benjamin will also begin his postgraduate studies at the Kronberg Academy. Benjamin’s date of birth is 11th June, 1999. He is a Luxembourgish national and is currently based in Berlin.
About
Luxembourgish cellist Benjamin Kruithof is emerging as one of the most promising instrumentalist talents of his generation. His first-prize winning performance of the Dvořák Cello Concerto at the George Enescu International Competition (2022) was praised as being “noble, singing, beautiful” (Bachtrack). For the 2024/25 season, Benjamin will be a European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) Rising Star artist, having been nominated by Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Philharmonie du Luxembourg.
The ECHO Rising Star programme will see Benjamin perform on some of Europe’s most renowned stages, with recitals in Cologne, Luxembourg, Birmingham, Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest, Gateshead, Hamburg, Dortmund, Stockholm, Barcelona, Katowice, Lisbon, Brussels, Porto, Lyon, London and Baden-Baden. Acclaimed British composer Sally Beamish has specially composed a new work dedicated to Benjamin 'Reverie' for this tour; inspired by his Luxembourgish heritage. The programme will also see Benjamin engaging in outreach activities and other opportunities for professional development through customised workshops and mentorship schemes.
Further highlights for Benjamin this season will include his debut recitals at Alte Oper Frankfurt and Musikebouw Eindhoven and performing as part of the opening season of London's newest concert venue; Bechstein Hall. Concerto projects will include Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and the Schumann concerto with the Heidelberger Symphoniker, for the closing concert of the 2025 Heidelberger Frühling Festival.
In November 2023, Benjamin was awarded the Audience Prize from the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; a prestigious prize for emerging soloists. Previous winners have included Veronika Eberle, Julia Fischer, Nils Mönkemeyer, Daniel Müller-Schott. In December 2023, he was personally invited by Janine Jansen to perform with her at the Kamermuziek Festival Utrecht.
In 2020, Benjamin took the First Prize, the Audience Award, and the prize for the best interpretation of the assignment composition at the “Cello Biennale Competition” in Amsterdam. His other competition successes include prize winner of the Pablo Casals Award in Spain (special award), the Gabrielli Competition in Berlin (second prize), the Anne and Françoise Groben Grand Prix in Luxembourg (first prize and audience award), the Flame Competition in Paris (first prize and special prize), the Leopold Bellan International Competition in Paris (first prize and audience award) as well as the International Knopf competition in Düsseldorf.