Maestro Ben Byung-Hyun Rhee, Music Director, and Founder of Camerata New Jersey, has earned widespread recognition and built an illustrious career marked by significant achievements. During his five-year tenure as Associate Conductor with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Rhee led concerts featuring esteemed soloists, including Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Itzhak Perlman, Glenn Dicterow, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.

 

His exceptional talent in conducting orchestras has garnered him widespread acknowledgment, solidifying his position as one of America's most gifted young conductors. Maestro Rhee received the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award, a prestigious honor granted from a selection of nearly three hundred conductors nationwide. Additionally, he was recognized as an emerging artist to watch by SYMPHONY magazine.

 

As a frequent guest conductor, Maestro Rhee has directed orchestras such as the Tennessee Philharmonic, Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Florida Symphony, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Korean Broadcasting Symphony (KBS), Tae-Jeon City Philharmonic, Korean Symphony, Chungnam State Philharmonic Orchestra (where he served as Music Director/Conductor for three years before his appointment in Nashville), and the Lautus Chamber Orchestra, which he founded in New York City in October 1995.

 

In the realm of opera, Maestro Rhee has directed performances with the Nashville Opera Company and New Jersey State Opera. His notable accomplishments include re-orchestrating Opera L’Amiraglio Yi Sun Sin and conducting its world premiere. Additionally, he has conducted annual performances of The Nutcracker with the Huntsville Ballet and Symphony. His contributions extend to producing and conducting new operatic versions, such as Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue, Puccini’s La Boheme, Bizet’s La Tragedie de Carmen, and Donizetti’s L'Elisir D'Amour. He has also presented a newly invented ‘Webpera’ version of L’Elisir D’Amore with Opera Camerata, where he serves as Music Director.

 

Maestro Rhee has spearheaded numerous projects, including the establishment of the Camerata Youth Orchestra and Choir in Fall 2012, culminating in its inaugural concert in the summer of 2013. He founded the Camerata Artists International Competition in 2011, the Prima Volta Music Competition in 2017, and the New York Young Virtuoso Competition in 2020, all aimed at supporting and cultivating talented young musicians. Winners of these competitions have had the opportunity to perform at renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Merkin Hall. Many of these winners have gone on to perform with some of the world's greatest orchestras on prestigious stages. Additionally, he founded the Camerata Men’s Choir in 2015, a mixed choir of both professional and amateur singers, which has earned recognition as one of the greatest vocal groups in the New York Metropolitan area.