Conductor and cellist Christian Benda is a descendant of the Czech Benda composers of the 18th century and a member of the longest ever existing family of musicians in music history.
Christian Benda received his musical training within his family where the musical tradition was maintained without interruption through three centuries. He studied composition, counterpoint, musical theory and all elements of music with his father, like in former days. This kind of training was maintained within the Benda family since the time of their ancestors, the Bohemian Benda composers, and musicians at the court of King Frederick the Great of Prussia in the 18th century.
One cannot understand Christian Benda without taking into account this stream of musicians out of which he was born. His biography doesn’t begin with his birth. He really is one element in a continuous chain taking its origin in 1686 in Bohemia.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach writes about his father Johann Sebastian Bach's taste in a letter to Forkel dated Hamburg, January 13th, 1775: “At the end of his life, my father Johann Sebastian Bach greatly appreciated Haendel, the two Grauns, Telemann, Benda, and generally everything worth of esteem in Berlin and Dresden. But for Haendel, he knew all of them personally.”
Clara Schumann, Eugène d’Albert, Anton Rubinstein, Joseph Joachim, Henri Marteau, Max Reger, Adolph Busch, Joseph Szigeti, Arnold Rosé, Jacques Thibaud, Carl Flesch, Ernest Ansermet, Hans Rosbaud, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Hermann Scherchen, Louis Persinger, Arthur Honegger, Frank Martin, Edwin Fischer, Lilli Kraus, Ricardo Odnopossof, Yehudi Menuhin, Max Rostal, Charles Dutoit, Howard Mitchell, Stanislaw Wislocki, Karl Richter und Jörg Demus are only part of the musicians having collaborated with the Bendas through the years.
After the Second World War, the family emigrated to South America. Nowadays all the family members have returned to Europe.
Christian Benda was launched on a music career by Pierre Fournier who wrote about him: “His high artistic qualities are in the most absolute sense totally devoted to the service of music. It is a personal privilege to have him as a disciple and my long professional experience can predict for him a career wide open to success. His human qualities equal his great artistic talent and he deserves the recognition of all musicians who will have the privilege of assuring the cooperation of his great talent.”
Christian Benda has performed throughout the world as a recitalist, orchestral soloist and conductor. He has toured with Barbara Hendricks, Paul Tortelier and Josef Suk in North America, Europe, South America and Asia. Soloists performing with him have included Simon Estes, Lazar Berman, Paul Badura-Skoda, Michel Beroff, Michail Rudy, Till Fellner, François-René Duchâble, Cristina Ortiz, Miguel Angel Estrella, José-Carlos Cocarelli, Jean Fonda, Brigitte Meyer, Josef Hala, Norbert Brainin, Pierre Amoyal, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Patrice Fontanarosa, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Bruno Giuranna and Boris Pergamenschikow.
Mr. Benda’s appearances at international festivals include names and places such as Schwetzingen (Germany), the Klangbogen Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Styriarte and Steirischer Herbst festivals (Austria), Echternach (Luxemburg), La Roque d’Antheron (France), Prague Spring (Czech Republic), Wratislavia Cantans (Poland), Zagreb, Idriart (Brazil) and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
His repertoire includes opera as well as symphonic works, and Mr. Benda’s specialty is to appear as conductor and soloist in, for example, Dvorak’s or Schumann’s cello concerto.
Mr. Benda’s video, radio and television recordings include productions for the BBC, the Radio Luxemburg, the Radio France, the ORF (Austria), the Hessischer Rundfunk and the SWF Baden-Baden (Germany), the Radio et Télévision Suisse Romande, the Radio Svizzera Italiana, the Czech Television, the Radio Slovenija, the Polish TV, the TV Cultura (Brazil).
Besides his recordings of the concertos by Lalo, Haydn, Boccherini, Villa Lobos, Bloch Shelomo, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Brahms’ Double Concerto, Tortelier’s Double Concerto, his many compact discs include a number of complete works such as the ones for cello by Schumann, for cello and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven and by Johannes Brahms, for piano and orchestra by Frank Martin with Paul Badura-Skoda and the violin concertos by Haydn with Jean-Jacques Kantorow.
In addition, Christian Benda has recorded two volumes of Martinu’s complete works for cello and piano together with discs of Boccherini’s cello sonatas, Stamitz’s cello concertos, C.P.E. Bach's Hamburg Sinfonias and J.S. Bach's Musical Offering.
Of particular interest in the symphonic repertoire are Casella’s Paganiniana and other works and Symphonic Fragments from Three Goldoni Comedies by Malipiero.
Christian Benda also recorded his ancestors’ works such as the symphonies and melodramas by Jiri Antonin made with the Prague Chamber Orchestra - together with two volumes of violin concertos by Frantisek and Jan Jiri with Josef Suk as soloist.
Christian Benda’s Homepage
December 2001
