Nevertheless, the Victoria University of Wellington performance piano and cello student is pinching himself at being part of the lineup for the DSO’s "Song of the Earth" concert alongside music legends James Judd (conductor), Simon O’Neill (tenor) and Wendy Dawn Thompson (mezzo soprano).
Benjamin will play Mozart’s much-loved Piano Concerto No. 21 in the concert’s first half, with O’Neill and Thompson joining the orchestra in the second half to sing Mahler’s epic song cycle The Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde).
Saturday’s concert will be Benjamin’s first time performing Piano Concerto No. 21 and his first visit to Dunedin Town Hall, and he is really looking forward to the experience.
"The concerto is one of Mozart’s most famous works — particularly the slow movement, and it will be a joy to play it."
Although new to the Dunedin Town Hall stage, Benjamin is no stranger to top level performance with his preferred instruments of piano and cello.
Last year, while still at high school, he played Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and has competed in multiple national and international piano competitions.
In 2022, he played a concerto by Prokofiev in the National Concerto Competition, held in Christchurch, making the semifinals, and is gearing up to be involved in the Mozart Competition for Young Musicians, to be held in Zhuhai, China, in September.
"All the Mozart I am playing at the moment will hopefully prove quite helpful at that event," he said.
The son of NZSO cellist Eleanor Carter and NZSO trumpet player Mark Carter, Benjamin left high school a year early to study music with Jian Liu at Victoria — and is keen to continue studying both piano and cello, despite the challenges this brings.
"I do a lot of practice — about two hours of cello and four to five hours of piano every day. It’s music all day, every day, but that’s OK because I love it."
While he is on a strong path towards a career in the ultra-competitive world of the concert pianist, Benjamin is keen to maintain his cello playing as another string to his bow.
"Piano as a career is so highly competitive that I feel there might be more opportunities with the cello — which would mean I could play with orchestras as well," he said.
He will put that plan into motion immediately after Saturday’s concert, when he heads back to Wellington and picks up his cello for a week of immersive music-making with the New Zealand Youth Orchestra.
