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The American tenor and conductor, Benjamin L. Geier, holds degrees in voice performance and choral conducting from Indiana University. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Music degree in choral conducting at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He has studied voice with Dr. Robert Harrison, Dr. Brian Horne, tenor Paul Elliott, and tenor James King; conducting with Mr. Robert Porco, Dr. William Jon Gray, Dr. Carmen H. Tellez, Dr. Richard Tangyuk, among others.
Benjamin Geier has received high praise as a compelling and insightful leader, who inspires both performers and audiences alike. In 2009, he founded the vocal ensemble Vox Reflexa, based in Bloomington, Indiana. Since then, Vox Reflexa has been steadily performing virtuosic sacred polyphony throughout the Mid-west and recently completed a tour in Quito, Ecuador for the X Festival Internacional: Música Sacra. Outside of Vox Reflexa, his conducting experiences include the International Conference: Heinrich Isaac and his World (2010), the Indiana University Chorale, Symphonic Choir, Indiana University Summer Chamber Ensemble, and Music Minister at First Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana. He has performed throughout the USA in Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Orlando, and in Washington D.C. at the Washington National Cathedral and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
As a professional soloist, chorister, and student of the choral arts, Benjamin Geier has performed with and/or attended master-classes with several leading conductors including James Conlon, Charles Bruffy, David Hayes, Robert Porco, and Craig Jessop, among others. Of his most recent performance of Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 by Monteverdi, the Bloomington Herald Times said, “Geier, who lent his ringing voice and artistic passion, was splendid." In December 2010, he toured with early music ensemble ˇSacabuche! in Beijing, China. “The Map and Music of Matteo Ricci,” a multi-media performance reanimated the pivotal cultural exchange between Italian Jesuits and Chinese literati in seventeenth-century China, and also commemorated the 400th anniversary of Ricci’s death in 1610. His performance of Monteverdi's Ecco di dolci raggi at Peking University, China was performed "with great passion". Benjamin Geier is the proud recipient of the Early Music America's "National Select Ensemble" scholarship. This ensemble will perform as part of the Boston Early Music Festival under the direction of Scott Metcalf.
Benjamin Geier is also a very active performer on the Indiana University campus and was featured recently in Arvo Pärt's Missa Syllabica and Heinrich Schütz' Weihnacts-historie. Benjamin also premiered the role of Aden in William Coogan's electroacoustic opera, Marabel and gave the first performance of Chant Leader in Don Freund's Passion.
Benjamin Geier is an Associate Instructor for the choral conducting department at the Jacobs School of Music, where he teaches undergraduate conducting, and an adjunct member of the voice faculty of Anderson University (Indiana), where he teaches applied vocal instruction. As someone dedicated to music education, Benjamin also serves as a clinician for the Lafayette Jefferson Varsity Singers, a high school concert choir which has earned a top ten ISSMA placement for the last fourteen years. Mr. Geier has also worked closely with Indiana public school music programs directing, providing musical accompaniment, choreography, and in 2006 he developed and implemented an after-school percussion clinic for a rural primary school.
Upcoming engagements for Benjamin Geier and Vox Reflexa include programs at St. Meinrad Archabbey, Rockefeller Chapel (Chicago), Taylor University (Upland, Indiana), and Christ Church Cathedral (Indianapolis). Benjamin is excited to perform again with ˇSacabuche! in two projects: A new recording of Heinrich Isaac's works with noted musicologist Alejandro Planchart and a West coast Canadian tour of 17th century Italian music. |
