Benjamin Carter

New Zealand pianist and cellist Benjamin Carter had his first major performance in 2021 with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, when he played the 1st movement of Grieg’s piano concerto conducted by James Judd, and has since made appearances with the orchestra on both piano and cello.

He is currently in his second year at the Royal College of Music studying piano under Prof. Vanessa Latarche, and cello under Prof. Richard Harwood as an ABRSM scholar. He is a prize winner of many national and international competitions, including winning 3rd prize at the 5th Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians, where he played Mozart’s piano concerto No.21 with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, and won an award for the best interpretation of a Chinese work. He was a quarterfinalist of the 2025 Jaén International Piano Competition, and a semi-finalist of the 2023 Jinjiang International Piano competition.

He was principal cellist of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in 2021-2023, and the 1st prize winner of the New Zealand Young Performing Arts Awards for 2022, playing the cello. In 2022, he performed a piano recital for the NZSO’s 75th anniversary.

His previous mentors include Jane Young (cello), Eleanor Carter (his mother), Douglas Mews, Jian Liu, Freddy Kempf, and Edith Fischer.