Longwood Debut
Making his Longwood debut, Director of Music and Organist at the historic Grace United Methodist Church (Wilmington, DE) Gabe Benton enjoys a multifaceted career as a recitalist, church musician, early music specialist, accompanist, and teacher.
As an undergraduate, a passion for early music led him to study harpsichord performance at Oberlin Conservatory. During his time there, he was involved in the Venice Opera Project, which brought an opera by Francesco Cavalli back to the stage in Venice for the first time since 1640. He went on to obtain a master's degree in historical performance from the Juilliard School. As a continuo player and harpsichord soloist, he regularly performs with ensembles across the country, in addition to his positions as harpsichordist for American Bach Soloists in San Francisco and the Serafin Ensemble in Wilmington.
Following a life-changing experience working as director of music at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Yonkers, NY, he turned his attention more seriously toward the organ and church music. He went on to study organ performance at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music, where he served as organist at the University Church and received the Charles Ives Award for "outstanding work as an organ major." Benton has also been the recipient of several other awards, including first place in the York Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition, the Earl Russel Award in historical performance, and the Jeffrey Thomas Award for “exceptionally gifted emerging professionals in the field of Early Music who show extraordinary promise and accomplishment.”
