Benjamin Goodson is Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir.
Benjamin Goodson is a leading conductor of choral and instrumental music. He works with many of the world’s most virtuosic choral ensembles, performing 20th and 21st-century a cappella music and Baroque and Classical oratorio. Benjamin's concerts are recognised for being vibrant, bold and heartfelt. They have taken him to major venues across Europe, the USA, China, Japan, and Australia.
Since 2020 Benjamin has served as the Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir. Their debut album featuring motets by Mendelssohn and Rheinberger was released in 2023 on Pentatone to critical acclaim. Described as "unmissable" by Stretto and "an extraordinary choral disc" by Scherzo, the recording received 5 stars from BBC Music Magazine and was nominated for the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
Benjamin regularly works as a guest conductor with other prominent choral ensembles, including the BBC Singers, Rundfunkchor Berlin, SWR Vokalensemble, Collegium Vocale Gent, Chamber Choir Ireland, Chorwerk Ruhr and others.
A cappella and new music
With razor-sharp hearing and a deep passion for choral sound, Benjamin is regularly invited to conduct the central 20th-century a cappella repertoire. He is also committed to performing and commissioning new music. Benjamin has commissioned and premiered works by composers such as Sir James MacMillan, Jonathan Dove, Roxanna Panufnik, Peter-Jan Wagemans and others. He has performed and recorded some of the most technically challenging choral scores in the repertoire, including by Feldman, Berio, Ligeti, Friederich Cerha, and Steve Reich.
“Every note, every sound melts on the tongue, is interpreted, invites you to notice. ‘Devotion to the music’: here this term really applies.”
Oratorio and Orchestral
As a passionate advocate of historically informed performance, Benjamin has conducted Baroque and Classical oratorios in major venues across the world. His performances have been praised by critics for their vivid musical gestures, clear rhetoric, and the natural unity between instruments and voices.
“Fans of Handel could indulge themselves because the collaboration under the baton of Benjamin Goodson was exemplary. Tempo, rhythm, dynamics, lightness of sound and balance of all voices. There was really nothing left to be desired.”
New formats
Beyond traditional concerts, Benjamin explores new ways to experience choral singing through cross-genre collaborations and multimedia. He has staged Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Tom Guthrie, performed in Rundfunkchor Berlin's Human Requiem, and contributed to the development of Robert Wilson's staging of the Bach Motets. For Groot Omroepkoor, he created The Living Room, a multidisciplinary format. Its first edition in 2021 featured a ritualized staging of Igor Stravinsky's choral works, followed by collaborations such as “Circus of Angels” with Sven Ratzke and a new video-based staging of Tarik O'Regan’s Mass Observation. Benjamin believes in the power of these innovative formats to foster new connections between audiences and the repertoire.
Born in Hertfordshire, UK, Benjamin Goodson studied music at Hertford College, Oxford. Benjamin studied conducting with Sir Colin Davis, Paul Spicer and Peter Stark. Three years after graduating, Benjamin was appointed Director of Music at Somerville College, becoming the University of Oxford's youngest Director of Music. Benjamin now teaches conducting at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam.
