Benjamin Bertin
Biography Benjamin Bertin
Benjamin Bertin
is an artist whose playing reveals an innate musical sensitivity, intellectual curiosity, and poetic imagination. Known for the warmth of his sound, his interpretations balance clarity of musical structure with lyrical spontaneity.
Born in Winnipeg, Benjamin’s affinity for Russian music, culture, and pianism is frequently highlighted in his concert programs and numerous projects. His French Canadian and Ukrainian Mennonite origins influenced this artistic trajectory and motivated his relocation to Montréal. In 2019, he gave a concert tour with 19 stops across western Canada in which he programmed a collection of works from the Russian Silver Age. The tour was in partnership with Living Room Live, an organization dedicated to bringing classical music to intimate spaces and remote areas. During residencies at the Banff Center for the Arts in 2020 and at Orford Musique in 2022, Benjamin developed projects devoted to Rachmaninoff’s piano works and songs. His performance of Scriabin’s 8th Sonata received a top prize in the Florida State University Russian Romantics Competition. Benjamin’s particular interest in the music of Nikolai Medtner was the focus of his doctoral thesis and has resulted in numerous concerts and lecture recitals in Canada, the USA, and Portugal, as well as a forthcoming recording. His original research on Medtner contributed to a book of scholarship entitled Medtner: Music, Aesthetics, and Contexts, published in 2021 by Olms Verlag, Hildesheim Germany.
Although naturally a sensitive and intuitive musician, Benjamin was not always able to clearly communicate his artistic ideas at the piano. It was through a hard fought and at times unorthodox journey, sustained by his deep love of music, that he developed the unique lyrical expressivity he is now known for.
Growing up with limited exposure to the classical music world, it was not until the age of 19, with little foundational training, that Benjamin first attempted to play works of Chopin which he had previously only known through recordings. This ignited a passion to pursue the piano seriously, which he began through self-study before eventually making the unconventional decision to begin a bachelor’s degree at age 22. He then went on to complete a Master’s of Music, followed by studies with the late Joel Hastings, with whom he experienced a real artistic breakthrough. A student of the methods of legendary Russian pianist Sergei Babayan, Hastings’ revolutionary teaching introduced Benjamin to the full palette of possibilities for expressive nuance at the piano, showing the way forward for him to fully give voice to the music he had inside. Afterwards his work with the renowned Russian pianist Alexander Kobrin helped develop and enhance the musical foundation that Hastings had begun, and the combined work of these two artists proved to be a turning point in Benjamin’s playing. He completed his training under the mentorship of Paul Stewart, whose consummate musicianship was an invaluable guide to providing greater refinement and breadth to Benjamin’s artistry.
Bertin’s playing has been awarded a number of prizes and scholarships throughout his career, including the Bourse de fin d’études doctorales (l’Université de Montréal), the Marek Jablonsky Piano Endowment (Banff Center), as well as full fellowships from Art of the Piano Festival (Cincinnati Conservatory) and Orford Musique Artist Residencies (QC).
A committed chamber musician and duo partner, Bertin has collaborated with members of the Boston Symphony, l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and Bang on a Can All-Stars in projects reaching across five centuries ranging from Reich to Monteverdi. As a member of Les Solistes de l’Orchestre 21, he performed the Canadian première of Pierre Boulez’ Sur Incises in Montréal, December 2021.
After studies at Brandon University and Bowling Green State University, Benjamin received an Artist Diploma from Columbus State University where he studied with Alexander Kobrin. He completed a Doctorat en interprétation at the Université de Montréal under the mentorship of Paul Stewart, serving as his studio assistant. Bertin’s other teachers have included Alexander Tselyakov, Thomas Rosenkranz, and Joel Hastings, with numerous coachings from Christopher Elton. He has appeared in masterclasses with Byron Janis, Robert Levin, Artur Pizarro, Dominique Weber, José Ramón-Méndez, and James Giles. Summer music festival appearances include Art of the Piano (OH), Washington International Piano Festival, Clear Lake Chamber Festival (MB), Adamant Piano Masterclasses (VT), Gijón International Piano Festival (Spain), Académie de l'Été musical de Barachois (NB), and Porto PianoFest (Portugal).
