Ben Marshall

Born in Kent in 1988, Ben was first introduced to music when he took up the classical guitar at the age of 8. Upon starting secondary school he discovered a particular rapport with the oboe above all other instruments. Ben’s first teacher, Catherine Smith, taught him not only the technical aspects of the oboe, but also a true love of music.

At the age of 15 Ben ventured into the world of ensemble playing and was appointed principal oboe on the Northbourne Park Summer music course for two consecutive years. He has performed with many wind bands and orchestras over Kent and played a season with the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra in 2005.

In 2006 Ben was offered a place at Trinity College of Music to study with Tess Miller and Andrew Knight. Since then, Ben has had many successes, most notably with a performance of Haydn’s Oboe Concerto, with which he won first prize in the Harold Clarke Woodwind Competition in February 2007. Ben is the principal oboist in the Trinity College of Music Repertoire Orchestra, where he performs alongside fourth years and postgraduates.

Ben has recently been invited to tour in Germany with the Rochester Cathedral Choir, performing Bach’s St John’s Passion. He has also been the soloist in ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ with the Becker Ensemble for the Kent Try-Angle Awards.

Ben is a keen arranger and conductor and recently established a ‘Classical Big Band’ at Trinity College of Music. He is a founding member of the Andrex Quartet, a wind ensemble that is the only one of its kind at Trinity College of Music. The Andrex Quartet specializes in 20th century French wind chamber music. They had their first performance earlier this year and look forward to a busy and exciting concert schedule in the near future.

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