Ben de Souza is one of a growing number of British classical accordionists at the forefront of promoting the instrument in this country. His playing shows “great technical assurance and control, beautifully understated expression, and real soul.”

Ben is in demand as a solo artist and chamber musician, and performs regularly as part of Duo Fisarco alongside violinist Chlöe Meade. He has collaborated with West Forest Chamber Ensemble, The Assembly Project, Bloomsbury Festival, and Newbury Spring Festival, and has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Ben has made a name for himself playing the harmonium part of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with choirs up and down the country. He has also workshopped new music for the accordion with composition students at the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity Laban and the University of Cambridge. The accordion takes Ben across the UK and has seen him perform in venues such as St David’s Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Stoller Hall, Hampton Court Palace and South Hill Park Arts Centre.

Having previously studied with Romano Viazzani, Ben completed his undergraduate studies with Owen Murray at the Royal Academy of Music. He has also received tuition from many of the world’s leading accordionists including Friedrich Lips, Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, Bjarke Mogensen, Mie Miki, Iñaki Alberdi and Matti Rantanen among others.

Ben is passionate about educating the next generation of accordionists and has a busy private teaching practice encompassing students of all ages and abilities. He also holds the position of Accordion Teacher at Salisbury Cathedral School, The Purcell School and Eton College.

Ben has trained as an accordion repairer and tuner with Beltrami Accordions, Italy, and works part-time as an accordion repairer for ZZ Music.
He is also leader of the Cumberland Ceilidh Band, and plays with a number of other ceilidh bands across England.

Photo: Benny Vernon

Ben de Souza is the Founding Director of the choir at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. He is currently Musical Director of Farnham & Bourne Choral Society and Newbury Chamber Choir, and conductor of Taplow Children’s and Boys’ choirs. He is also Director of Music at Earley St Peter’s Church, and the first Musical Director of Godalming Choral Society’s Children’s Choir programme. Ben has previously worked with choirs at the John Lewis Partnership, Finchley Children’s Music Group, and All Souls, Langham Place. He regularly deputises as a conductor and singer for choirs across the south of England.

As a choral singer Ben has sung with the award winning Taplow Youth Choir (Gillian Dibden MBE) and Magdalene College Chapel Choir, Cambridge (Graham Walker), and held a choral scholarship with King’s Voices, Cambridge (Ben Parry). He has performed in some of Europe’s most prestigious choral music venues, and has also appeared on recordings with a handful of the country’s finest choirs including the Gabrieli Consort (Paul McCreesh), the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge (Sir Stephen Cleobury), and Voces8. Ben has studied singing with Alexander Ashworth and Richard Edgar-Wilson.
His credits as a bass/baritone soloist include performances of Haydn’s The Creation, Jenkins’ The Armed Man, and Faure’s Requiem.

Ben holds an MMus in Choral Studies from the University of Cambridge, where he studied conducting with some of the world’s leading choral musicians including Stephen Layton, Graham Ross, Andrew Nethsingha and Sarah MacDonald.

Photo: Vernon Nash