A proponent of the music of our time, he works closely with living composers. In addition to being a founding member of the critically-acclaimed new music collective counter)induction, he plays with many of the leading contemporary performance ensembles on the East Coast, including NOVUS NY, Music From Copland House, and Ensemble Échappé – and has also collaborated with ICE, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Network for New Music, Argento Ensemble, Ensemble 21 and Sequitur. He is an artist staff member of the annual Composers Conference, and a guest faculty member of the Bennington Chamber Music Conference. With performances conveying “spiritedness and humor”; “unflagging precision and energy”; "eloquence and passion"; "dazzling technique" (The New York Times) and playing described as “something magical” (The Boston Globe), “compellingly musical” (The New York Times) and “thoroughly lyrical…expert” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Benjamin Fingland interprets a diverse range of clarinet literature. He has performed worldwide as a recitalist and soloist, and has also collaborated, recorded, and toured with a broad variety of other artists - ranging in scope from Brooklyn Rider and the Horszowski Trio to Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, to jazz legend Ornette Coleman and pop icon Elton John. Mr. Fingland is the principal clarinetist of the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, has held principal positions with the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra and the New Haven Symphony, and has also played with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is a member of the renowned Dorian Wind Quintet, which recently celebrated 60 years of groundbreaking commissions and performances of wind chamber music. He holds degrees from the Juilliard School and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and the Third Street Music School.
