Benjamin Rauch
Artistic Director
Benjamin Rauch leads a multi-faceted career as a countertenor, composer, conductor, and educator. He spent a year singing soprano with Chanticleer, America’s premier a cappella vocal ensemble, performing on major concert stages across the United States, Europe, and Japan, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Vienna’s Musikverein. With the GRAMMY® awarding winning ensemble, Mr. Rauch performed live on NBC’s popular morning television program “Today.” Solo engagements include Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Hamor in Handel’s Jephtha, The Spirit in Purcell’s Dido’s and Aeneas, The Premiere of La Lombardesca with music of the Polish Baroque, and The Connecticut Premiere of David Briggs’ Requiem. He has performed as a soloist with numerous ensembles including Chanticleer, Crescendo, The Greater New Haven Community Chorus, The New Haven Chorale, CitySingers of Hartford, Chorus Angelicus, and Gaudeamus.
Regularly commissioned as a choral composer, Mr. Rauch has written numerous works for ensembles including The First Church of Christ in Hartford – Center Church Choir and The St. Patrick – St. Anthony Gallery Choir. A native of Long Island, New York, he won First Place two years consecutively in the Long Island Composers’ Alliance Young Composers Competition. Mr. Rauch was also the recipient of “Best Arrangement” from the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, Choral Conducting and Composition from The Hartt School, University of Hartford.
Mr. Rauch is the founder and director of Benjamin Rauch Voice Studios, and the Artistic Director for the BRVS Vocal Intensive Program, a competitive nine-day summer festival for singers. In addition to his work with BRVS, he has served on faculty for the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, The Ensign-Darling Vocal Fellowship of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, and The Hartt Community Division’s Performer’s Certificate Program. As a clinician and conductor, he has led numerous choral and vocal workshops internationally. Also at home in musical theater, Mr. Rauch has served as music director for over 20 productions with the University of Hartford’s Summer Place Players, West Hartford Summer Arts Festival, and the theatre program at the Joseph Eisner Institute for Living Judaism in Great Barrington, MA. At The Hartt School, Mr. Rauch has taught in both the Vocal Studies and Music Theory departments. Currently, he teaches undergraduate courses in Ear Training and directs the Hartt Choir and Chorale. He is also on faculty at Manchester Community College where he teaches Voice and Ear Training. In addition to his eclectic musical career, Mr. Rauch has completed his 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training at West Hartford Yoga and specializes in teaching Yoga for Singers.