Ben Munro

Harrogate musician Ben Munro graduated in 2023 from the Royal College of Music (RCM) where he achieved a first-class in the BMus (Hons) degree with studies in Composition and Jazz Piano. Alongside performances at the RCM in London, his education also consisted of a coveted exchange programme with the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, USA. Both at home and in the USA, these studies have been generously supported by the Queens Platinum Jubilee Fund, Parnassus Award and the UK’s Turing Scheme for exchange studies.

Ben’s musical debut was with the Leeds Symphony Orchestra in 2016 where a successful first performance of his first composition led to two further appearances on the programme later that season. His relationship with the late conductor Martin Binks MBE was pivotal to his early development as a musician and created a spark in Ben to pursue a career in music education. Beyond composing, Ben is actively involved with the music of his local community and beyond, having conducted in a variety of Yorkshire ensembles such as Harrogate Male Voice Choir’s 50th Anniversary concert with Voces8 at the Royal Hall, acted as an official accompanist for entrants at Harrogate’s International Festival, and led talks at London’s Great Exhibition Road Festival.

In parallel to his industry work, Ben has grown a large community of piano students in the Harrogate District, aiming to reignite a spark in children’s musical education often missing in the standard graded material. His teaching involves creating miniature arrangements of student favourites in parallel to helping them progress through technical material to ensure a student grows via exploring the songs that they love.

Qualifications:

First Class Bachelor of Music with Honours, A Level Music Technology, A Level Music