The music-making of young Australian cellist, Benett Tsai has been described as “electrifying…flawless freshness” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and “charismatic, heartfelt playing full of fluid intensity” (Sydney Arts Guide). Profiled as one of the thirty “next generation young musicians making their mark” by Limelight Magazine, he came to attention at the 2022 Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann where he received both the Third Prize and Special Prize for the Best Haydn Concerto as the youngest participant. Most recently, he joined the storied roster of Young Concert Artists upon winning its 2023 Susan Wadsworth International Auditions in New York. An inaugural YCA Jacobs Fellow, he is the recipient of The Stern Young Artist Award from the Linda and Isaac Stern Foundation, and also holds the Anne & George Popkin Cello Chair.
Since his mainstage debut at the age of thirteen, Benett has performed actively as a solo artist and chamber musician. He has appeared with orchestras such as the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, Kammerphilharmonie Metamorphosen Berlin, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra Academy. In recitals, he has been presented at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Berliner Philharmonie, City Recital Hall in Sydney, Helsinki Music Centre, and Melbourne Recital Centre among other venues worldwide. Notably, he was featured in the 2020 documentary film, The Way Forward, where he collaborated with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
In the 2024/25 season, Benett will perform with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Umberto Clerici, both the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and Anchorage Symphony Orchestra with Elizabeth Schulze, and the Kennett Symphony with Michael Hall. In addition to recitals at the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.) and Merkin Hall (New York), he will also appear at Carnegie Hall for the YCA Season Finale, Port Washington Public Library, and on a nationwide tour of Australia as a part of Kathryn Selby & Friends. Recent highlights include Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto with the Colburn Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen at The Soraya, and both solo and chamber music appearances at the Verbier Festival Academy.
Born in 2003, Benett began playing the cello at the age of five under the guidance of his uncle and teacher, Thomas Tsai. He is currently an undergraduate student of Clive Greensmith at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. In previous years, he was also taught by Susan Blake and Li-Wei Qin. His other significant mentors include Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Isserlis, Alban Gerhardt, and his pianist father, Joshua Tsai.
