Ben Hong

Cello
Assistant Principal

Cellist BEN HONG joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1993, at age 24, making him the youngest member of the orchestra at that time. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Ben won his native country's National Cello Competition three years in a row before leaving home, at 13, for the Juilliard School. Later he studied with Lynn Harrell at the University of Southern California School of Music before joining the LA PHIL.
 
In addition to performing with the LA PHIL, he also performs frequently as soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles. Ben has collaborated with such artists as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Lynn Harrell, Janine Jansen, Lang Lang, Cho-Liang Lin, Nicolai Lugansky, Bobby McFerrin, Christopher O’Riley, Shanghai String Quartet, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kyoko Takezawa, Michael Tree, and Lars Vogt.
 
Ben’s desire to grow musically has resulted in a number of diverse performance opportunities. In 2006, he performed a Bach Cello Suite with the local hip-hop orchestra, DaKah, at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the annual Grand Avenue Festival. That performance inspired a passion for improvisation, which he continues to develop with violinist/singer Lili Haydn. His improvisation with Lili was spotlighted by Alex Ross in a 2007 article in the New Yorker Magazine focusing on the LA PHIL.
 
In May of 2007 on the Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series, Ben performed the Philharmonic premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s In Croce. Classical music critic Alan Rich described it as "an amazing work for cello (the Philharmonic’s Ben Hong) and organ (Mark Robson), ecstatic and ecstatically played: hypnotic, intense, an unceasing 19-minute mantra." In August of 2007, Ben performed with the legendary Iranian classical singer, Shahram Nazeri, to a sold-out audience at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Don Heckman, jazz and world music critic for the Los Angeles Times, said, “The opening "OM" segment, for example, featuring the brilliant playing of cellist Ben Hong, moved from a meditative beginning into a Western-like cadenza, subtly combing qualities of East and West.” And in July of 2008, Ben was the featured soloist at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA PHIL in Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Concerto. Mark Swed, Classical Music Critic for the Los Angeles Times said, “this was 26 minutes of really enchanting music played really well….the Bowl was magically bathed in Hong's bold, gorgeous tone.”
 
Most recently, Ben was hired by Dreamworks to train several members of the cast of the upcoming movie, “The Soloist”, including Jamie Foxx and Tom Hollander. He also serves as an on-set technical advisor. The movie is based on Steve Lopez's columns in the Los Angeles Times about Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a former Juilliard student who ended up on the streets of Los Angeles homeless and schizophrenic yet held tight to his music. Ben’s playing will be featured on the film's soundtrack.
 
Other interests include working on and riding his three sports motorcycles, bicycling, scuba diving, martial arts, and West African drumming.