Benjamin Karp

Benjamin Karp received the MM degree from Indiana University, where he was a student of Janos Starker and Gary Hoffman, and a BA in Philosophy from Yale University.

He has performed concerti, chamber music, and orchestral repertoire on four continents, joining the faculty of the University of Kentucky in 1991. He has been Principal Cellist of the Lexington Philharmonic since 2012. Mr. Karp served as a full-time member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for two and a half seasons and has been a substitute in that cello section for international tours, five Carnegie Hall performances, 15 Telarc CD recordings, and hundreds of performances in Cincinnati. During the summer months Mr. Karp teaches, performs, and serves as Head of Strings at the Brevard Music Center in the mountains of North Carolina. Benjamin Karp served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Cello at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington from 2008-2012. Mr. Karp was for five years principal cellist of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and has been guest principal cellist of the Charleston (SC) Symphony, the Asheville Symphony, and the West Virginia Symphony. Mr. Karp is a widely known chamber musician, appearing at festivals throughout the United States. Before coming to the University of Kentucky Mr. Karp was for six years cellist of the New College String Quartet and principal cellist of the Florida West Coast Symphony. He has recorded for the Telarc, Gasparo, Arabesque, CRI, and Centaur labels. Benjamin Karp is a Larsen Performing Artist.