Benjamin Goodson is Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir.
Benjamin Goodson is a leading conductor of choral and instrumental music. He works with some of the world’s most virtuosic choral ensembles in repertoire encompassing 20th and 21st-century a cappella music, and Baroque and Classical oratorio. Benjamin's performances are recognised for being vibrant, bold and heartfelt. He has conducted in major venues across Europe, the USA, China, Japan, and Australia.
Since 2020 Benjamin Goodson has served as the chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir. Under his leadership their performances have garnered high praise from both critics and audiences alike. Their debut album, featuring motets by Mendelssohn and Rheinberger, was released in 2023 on the Pentatone label and received acclaim from the European press, described as 'unmissable' by Stretto and 'an extraordinary choral disc' by Scherzo. The album earned 5 stars from BBC Music Magazine and was nominated for the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
Benjamin also works as a guest conductor with many of the other most prominent choral ensembles, including Rundfunkchor Berlin, SWR Vokalensemble, BBC Singers, Collegium Vocale Gent, MDR Rundfunkchor, NDR Rundfunkchor, Chamber Choir Ireland, and the Hungarian National Choir.
A cappella and new music
With razor-sharp ears and a passion for moulding choral sound, Benjamin is regularly invited to conduct the central 20th-century a cappella repertoire. He is also committed to performing and commissioning new music. Benjamin has commissioned or given the first performances of works by composers such as Sir James MacMillan, Jonathan Dove, Roxanna Panufnik, Peter-Jan Wagemans and others. He has performed and recorded some of the most technically challenging choral scores in the repertoire, including by Feldman, Berio, Ligeti, Friederich Cerha, and Steve Reich.
“Every note, every sound melts on the tongue, is interpreted, invites you to notice. ‘Devotion to the music’: here this term really applies.”
Oratorio and orchestral
Expert in oratorio, especially the music of Bach, Handel, Mozart and Mendelssohn, Benjamin is a passionate advocate of historically-informed performance in Baroque and Classical repertoire. His performances are characterised by vivid musical gesture, clear rhetoric, and a natural unity between instruments and voices.
“Fans of Handel could indulge themselves because the collaboration under the baton of Benjamin Goodson was exemplary. Tempo, rhythm, dynamics, lightness of sound and balance of all voices. There was really nothing left to be desired.”
New formats
In addition to traditional concerts, Benjamin creates new ways to experience choral singing, experimenting with cross-genre collaborations and the use of video and multimedia. He has staged Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Tom Guthrie, performed in Rundfunkchor Berlin's Human Requiem, and assisted in developing Robert Wilson's groundbreaking staging of the Bach Motets. For Groot Omroepkoor, he created the multi-disciplinary format, The Living Room. The first edition of this format, in 2021, staged and ritualized the choral works of Igor Stravinsky. Subsequent productions have included a collaboration with Sven Ratzke (“Circus of Angels”) and a new video-based staging of Tarik O’Regan’s Mass Observation. Benjamin is driven by the belief that these formats can create powerful new points of connection for audiences with the repertoire.
Born in Hertfordshire, UK, Benjamin Goodson studied music at Hertford College, Oxford. Benjamin studied conducting with Sir Colin Davis, Paul Spicer, Peter Stark and Ulrich Windfuhr. Three years after graduating, Benjamin was appointed Director of Music at Somerville College, becoming the University of Oxford's youngest Director of Music. Benjamin now teaches conducting at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam.
