Ben Opie is an artist whose talents have allowed him to explore many facets of the music industry. Effortlessly appearing in leading ensembles, and the nation’s symphony orchestras as well as exploring different genres: jazz with the Johannes Luebbers Dectet, world music with Turkish musician Ozan Iskender, folk music with Irish bagpipes specialist Matthew Horsley, and of course classical chamber music and as a solo artist. He currently lectures in oboe at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and has been engaged by numerous other tertiary and higher level education institutions such as Australian National Academy of Music, Elder Conservatorium, Australian Youth Orchestra and more.

Recent highlights include giving the world premiere performance of Luke Styles’ new concerto, ‘Neon Highway’, commissioning and performing a brand new immersive performance of Holsts Planets Suite paired with a brand new series of works by Johannes Luebbers and performing as part of the world premiere season of Elliot Gyger’s ‘Oscar and Lucinda’ with Sydney Chamber Opera. 

He has had extensive training in historically informed performance practice, studying with leaders in the field such as Susan Harvey, Geoffrey Lancaster and Genevieve Lacey. 

He founded Inventi Ensemble in 2014 and is currently co-artistic director with Melissa Doecke. This ensemble has commissioned and premiered numerous new works. Inventi Ensemble established twice-weekly interactive music workshops in Melbourne’s immigration detention centres and established 3 different concert series in local communities around Melbourne. They also present innovative interactive children’s music workshops from instrument making, to improvisation and new compositions.      

Ben has collaborated with many different artists, including visual artists, poets, video installation artists, dancers, sound artists and radio documentary producers. Throughout his career he has been passionate about all art forms. He has also recently been involved in working with indigenous artists in remote communities, collaborating with them musically through workshops and performances. His passion for music extends to inspiring people who otherwise don’t have access to it, he has participated in outreach programs including working with Syrian refugee children on the border of Turkey as part of the ‘Flying Carpet Festival’ as well as creating music workshops for children with vision impairment. All with an emphasis on finding ways to make music in any circumstance.

Ben has been working with orchestras around the world for his entire career, his diverse expertise and experience make him in demand as an orchestral musician. Ben has performed in Germany, France, Bahrain, America and Australia as a soloist, collaborative and orchestral musician. 

His work across the globe has earned him multiple awards and recognition in the field of music, such as the Phyllis C Wattis Foundation Scholarship , the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Award for New Music, the 42nd International Summer Course for New Music Scholarship, Darmstadt and the Carmel Music Competition Finalist.

Ben has been engaged as an expert leader in his field, tutoring students from the Australian Youth Orchestra Young Symphonists program, several of the Melbourne Youth Music programs, masterclasses at the Australian National University, and was the oboe specialist for Graham Abbott’s ABC Classic FM Keys to Music broadcast. He was guest artist at the 2014 Australian Double Reed Society Conference and 2015 New Zealand Double Reed Society Conference and received an invitation to present at the 2015 International Double Reed Society Conference in Tokyo.