Ben Batalla 🇺🇸 USA
Pianist
Ben Batalla offers a distinguished musicianship with a versatile background in jazz, improvisation, classical and sacred music traditions. He has been acclaimed for his sensitive musicality, unique programmatic choices, and for his advocacy of improvisation and original cadenzas in classical music. He is an active performer, composer, and teacher from Austin, TX. He attended the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, FL. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance from Tulane University, as well as further graduate education in sacred music and composition at the Catholic University of America. His teachers include Faina Lushtak, Ivo Kaltchev, and Roberto Durso. He is currently studying with Jason Kwak at Texas State University for his Graduate Performance Certificate in Piano Performance.
As a pianist, Ben won 1st place in several national and international competitions including the Orfeo International Music Competition, the Music Teachers National Association, the Tulane Concerto Competition, and the Gulf Coast Steinway Society. Recently, Ben was a winner at the colOrchestra Auditions and performed Chopin’s 1st Piano Concerto with the Western New York Chamber Players under Maestro Glen Cortese. He has performed recitals at the Kravis Center of the Performing Arts. He has given recitals at the Orfeo Music Festival, the Brandywine International Piano Festival, the Washington International Piano Festival, and the Qué Pasa Hispanic Heritage Festival.
While at Tulane, Ben studied jazz with renowned keyboardist Adam Benjamin from Kneebody and performed jazz throughout New Orleans. In 2013, he was featured in Downbeat International Jazz Magazine as a winning young artist. In 2018, he was also featured on PBS’ Celebration of Music with one of his improvisations. Ben will be releasing his first solo free-improvisation album titled As I Am in August of 2023.
In addition to classical and jazz, Ben is active in Catholic sacred music as an organist, director, and composer. He studied sacred music composition and choral conducting with Timothy McDonnell and Peter Latona, the director for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He serves as the Director of Music at Saint Albert the Great in Austin, TX. Ben is a collaborating artist with The Vigil Project and will soon be featured in their upcoming documentary titled The Meaning of Music, which will also feature other prominent artists and figures including Matt Maher, Steffany Gretzinger, Paul Jernberg, and Bishop Robert Barron. His releases with the Vigil Project include Exodus, which showcases improvised instrumental meditations on several passages from the book of Exodus. Ben will release his new mass setting titled Mass of St. John Paul II, which received an endorsement from Bishop Joe Vasquez, in October of 2023.
Ben aims to integrate all aspects of his musicianship to create music that will allow listeners to encounter a beauty that is transformative. He believes in the transformative power of beauty and desires to use art as a means of reminding his listeners of their own inherent dignity and worth.