Benjamin Kirk

Ben was born in Beverley, East Yorkshire, to missionary parents.  He spent his early years in Portugal, Brazil, and the United States, before falling in love with choral music whilst he was a chorister at Ripon Cathedral.  After leaving Christ’s Hospital School in 2011, Benjamin moved to Tallinn, Estonia to begin studying Choral Conducting under Tõnu Kaljuste, at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Benjamin's career as a choral conductor began with the Tartu University Female Choir in south Estonia, in 2016.  He was selected as a TENSO young conductor in March 2017, and served as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of Tallinn Chamber Choir between
2017 - 2019, touring with them in Slovakia in December 2017. 

Benjamin studied for his MA in Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music (2015), before returning to Estonia to earn his MA in Orchestral Conducting by conducting the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, graduating with honours in June 2018.

After moving back to the UK in 2019, he won 3rd Prize in the 2019 World Choral Conducting Competition in Hong Kong and is now Musical Director of the Leeds Guild of Singers, the Lea Singers in Harpenden, the Clerkes of All Saints in York, and is Conductor with The Purcell Singers in London.

Since 2021 Benjamin has been Guest Conductor with the National Forum of Music (NFM) Choir in Wrocław, Poland, in a budding international career.  He was delighted to be invited to return and feature as Guest Conductor in the choir's 2022 season and prepared the them for performances of Szymanowski's Stabat Mater, and Roxanna Panufnik's Faithful Journey: Mass for Poland, directed by Jacek Kaspszyk.  Benjamin has also worked with the Carice Singers, the Estonian National Male Choir (2014/2016), Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (2016/2018), Swedish Radio Choir (2018), and the French Radio Choir (2019).

As a choir trainer, Benjamin has prepared numerous choruses for Tõnu Kaljuste, Kristjan Järvi, Kaspars Putninš, Risto Joost, Stephen Layton, George Vass, Martina Batič, Ludovic Morlot, and Jacek Kaspszyk and has conducted in masterclasses with the Berlin Sinfonietta, the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir, the Berlin Radio Choir, Yale Schola Cantorum, and the BBC Singers.

Following the recent retirement of Sue Hollingworth DUniv BEM in 2024, Sine Nomine are delighted that Ben has agreed to be our new Music Director, and we look forward to a new and rewarding future of choral music making.