Benjamin Krug

This week, we feature cellist Benjamin Krug, who will also join us this Saturday for the Living Room Series! Born in El Paso Texas, Benjamin grew up in six different cities all over the world before attending the Cleveland Institute of Music for his masters, where he met fellow RPO cellist and bestie, Lars Kirvan! In 2008, Lars and Ben both auditioned for the RPO and won two spots in the same year!

𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨: I was attending a Greenville Symphony Orchestra concert at age six when my mother pointed to the cello section and asked “how about you play that instrument??” (𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴, 𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘩 𝘒𝘳𝘶𝘨!) I always loved the cello as it’s the instrument closest to the human voice ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 🏝 The Bach Cello Suites. They are like “the Bible” for cellists: some of the most beautiful music ever written in the Western Hemisphere and musically so diverse. ⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
𝐇𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬: I love running long-distance (𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘙𝘗𝘖 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘈𝘷𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘙𝘶𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘖𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳) spending time with family, and playing hide-and-go-seek with my little devon-rex cat, Pippa 😻⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: attending Third Presbyterian Church (where I often enjoy performing at virtual church services), visiting Highland Park, and finding new restaurants with outdoor seating!⁣ ⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
𝐅𝐮𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭: From age 11, I had the amazing privilege of attending American Boychoir School and performed around the world as a boy soprano.  From 1992 to 1996, I had the opportunity to perform Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the New York Philharmonic for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, “Cuckoo Lullaby” with Wynton Marsalis, and “Wozzeck” with the Cleveland Orchestra.  You can also hear my mini solo in the opening of the movie “Interview of the Vampire” from 1994…fifteen seconds of fame! 🙌🏻⁣⁣