SEATTLE SYMPHONY WELCOMES NEW PRINCIPAL TIMPANIST JAMES BENOIT AND SECTION VIOLA DANIEL STONE THIS FALL
ALSO JOINING THE ORCHESTRA THIS FALL IS PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED CONCERTMASTER NOAH GELLER
JAMES BENOIT PRINCIPAL TIMPANI
James Benoit, a native of Niskayuna, New York, is the newly appointed Principal Timpanist of the Seattle Symphony. Previously, Benoit was the Associate Principal Percussionist and Assistant Principal Timpanist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and spent three seasons as a section percussionist with the Sarasota Opera.
As an educator, Benoit was on faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and at the Luzerne Music Center. An avid supporter of music in the classroom, he also has worked as a teaching and performing artist with Associate Solo Artists, a non-profit organization that provides artistic interdisciplinary programs to children, teachers, businesses, and social establishments, by giving concerts, masterclasses, and workshops in schools throughout New York.
Benoit received his Artist Diploma from Duquesne University, his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music.
DANIEL STONE SECTION VIOLA
Daniel Stone, violist, joins the Seattle Symphony viola section in the fall of 2018 after playing for two seasons in the Calgary Philharmonic. Prior to Calgary, he received a Master of Music degree and a Master of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music as a student of Ettore Causa. While at Yale, he was a faculty member at the Fairfield School of Music and the violist of the Orange String Quartet. A native of Chicago, he previously studied at Indiana University with Stephen Wyrczynski of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and with Desirée Ruhstrat of the Lincoln Trio. His summer studies include the Kneisel Hall, Norfolk, Sarasota, Tanglewood, and Aspen music festivals.
In addition to music, he enjoys hiking, biking, photography, woodworking, and homebrewing.
The David & Amy Fulton Concertmaster
NOAH GELLER CONCERTMASTER
Noah Geller comes to Seattle from the Kansas City Symphony, where he was Concertmaster since 2012. Prior to this, he held posts in The Philadelphia Orchestra as a first violin section member and later as Acting Assistant Concertmaster. He attended The Juilliard School for both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, and has also performed with many chamber and festival organizations around the U.S. including the Marlboro Music Festival, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, and here in the Pacific Northwest at the Olympic Music Festival in Port Townsend, Washington.
Geller and his wife, percussionist Mari Yoshinaga, and their dog, Monkey reside in Seattle. He performs on a violin made by Andreas Postacchini c. 1840.
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
The Seattle Symphony is one of America's leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard from September through July by more than 500,000 people through live performances and radio broadcasts. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community engagement programs reach over 65,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season. The orchestra has made nearly 150 recordings and has received three Grammy Awards, 23 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.
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