Mr Benjamin Sheen

Benjamin Sheen is the College's Director of Music. An established concert organist and conductor on both sides of the Atlantic, he has held organist posts at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City and at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. He maintains a busy schedule of recitals and masterclasses worldwide.

Degrees obtained

• MA (Oxon).
• M.Mus.
• FRCO.

Awards and prizes

• Pierre S. du Pont First Prize, Longwood Gardens Organ Competition (2013).
• Second Prize and Jon Laukvik prize, St. Alban’s Organ Competition (2013).

Biography

Benjamin Sheen, Director of Music at Jesus College, Cambridge, is an established concert artist on both sides of the Atlantic.

Hailed as a “brilliant organist” by the New York Times, he is the 2013 winner of the Pierre S. du Pont First Prize in the inaugural Longwood Gardens Organ Competition, and that same year received Second Prize and the Jon Laukvik prize at the St. Alban’s International Organ Competition. Benjamin holds degrees from the University of Oxford and the Juilliard School, is a prize-winning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and the 2011 recipient of the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal. Before moving to Cambridge, he spent three years as Sub-Organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and served as organ tutor at the University of Oxford.

As a concert organist, Benjamin has performed throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Singapore, and South Africa. He has also made concerto appearances with the Auckland Philharmonic and Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York City. Before returning to the UK in 2020, he spent eight years at the famed Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue in New York City as Associate Organist and as Acting Director of Music after the death of John Scott in 2015. Benjamin has recently released his first solo album, ‘In London Town’, featuring music and transcriptions from Great Britain, recorded on the Dobson organ at Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue.