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!

๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ: I was attending a Greenville Symphony Orchestra concert at age six when my mother pointed to the cello section and asked โhow about you play that instrument??โ (๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฉ ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐จ!) I always loved the cello as itโs the instrument closest to the human voice โฃโฃ
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๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ The Bach Cello Suites. They are like โthe Bibleโ for cellists: some of the most beautiful music ever written in the Western Hemisphere and musically so diverse. โฃโฃโฃ
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๐๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฌ: I love running long-distance (๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐๐ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ) spending time with family, and playing hide-and-go-seek with my little devon-rex cat, Pippa ๐ปโฃโฃ
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๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ: attending Third Presbyterian Church (where I often enjoy performing at virtual church services), visiting Highland Park, and finding new restaurants with outdoor seating!โฃ โฃโฃ
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๐๐๐ญ: From age 11, I had the amazing privilege of attending American Boychoir School and performed around the world as a boy soprano.ย ย From 1992 to 1996, I had the opportunity to perform Beethovenโs 9th Symphony with the New York Philharmonic for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations,ย โCuckoo Lullabyโ with Wynton Marsalis, and โWozzeckโ with the Cleveland Orchestra.ย ย You can also hear my mini solo in the opening of the movie โInterview of the Vampireโ from 1994โฆfifteen seconds of fame! ๐๐ปโฃโฃ