Bio

James Benjamin “Ben” Crouch is a cellist, writer, and teacher. Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, he founded the Kentucky Chamber Orchestra in 2017 (then the Kentuckiana Philharmonic Orchestra), and formerly served as the orchestra’s executive director for its first three fiscal years and music director for its first two seasons. He is a former student of cello performance at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he studied with Dr. Sarah Kim, Assistant Professor of Cello at Miami University. Crouch is an up-and-coming pedagogue; his teaching career spans nearly five years between his teaching positions in Ohio and Kentucky, along with his many private students whom he teaches independently. From August 2020 until May 2023, Crouch was a faculty member at Oxford Music Academy in Oxford, OH. Currently, he is on faculty at Highlands Music Academy in Louisville, KY, where he has been teaching since August 2023. In his nearly five years of teaching, Crouch has emphasized the importance of solid technique and fundamentals on the cello, and is currently writing a method book for the instrument called A Method of Practice for the Violoncello, which he hopes to release sometime in 2024.

In 2018, Mr. Crouch performed as a soloist accompanied by members of the “Louisville String Academy,” a pre-college strings program at the University of Louisville, as well as members of the University of Louisville Symphony Orchestra under conductor Kimcherie Lloyd. In 2019, he performed the first movement of the Camille Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto in A minor as a soloist with the Kentuckiana Philharmonic Orchestra – the organization he founded in 2017. He has played in masterclasses given by Paul York, professor of cello at the University of Louisville, Hans Jørgen Jensen, professor of cello at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Ross Harbaugh, professor of cello at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, Alan Rafferty, professor of cello at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), Sarah Kim, professor of cello at Miami University, and others. During the summer of 2019, Mr. Crouch attended the Interlochen Cello Institute and the Interlochen Arts Camp where he studied with renowned soloist Jonah Kim as well as principal cellist of the Sarasota Orchestra, Natalie Helm. During the summer of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, he virtually attended the Cincinnati Young Artists Summer Cello Academy. There, he worked with guest artists Hans Jørgen Jensen (co-author of CelloMind and one of the world’s most sought-after pedagogues today), Richard Aaron, professor of cello at the University of Michigan and faculty at The Juilliard School, Dr. Sarah Kim, and Alan Rafferty. In 2021, Mr. Crouch attended the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont. There, his quartet was coached by Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival Artistic Director Kevin Lawrence, and violist Lawrence Dutton of the nine-time Grammy-winning Emerson String Quartet. As a conductor, Crouch served as the music director of the Kentucky Chamber Orchestra, which he founded in 2017 (then the Kentuckiana Philharmonic Orchestra) from the debut of its first season until the close of its second season. In 2019, he studied conducting with Matthew Schlomer, faculty member at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

As a person diagnosed with severe ADHD and narcolepsy (the latter of which also presents severe focus and concentration challenges), Mr. Crouch enjoys exploring ways to limit his technology usage in the 21st century as a way to help improve focus and attention span, increase the enjoyment of non-digital activities such as reading, practicing, and writing, and improve overall mental health – things he believes have been hindered by the saturation of technology in the digital age. Referring to himself as a “digital minimalist,” – a movement started by author and speaker Cal Newport – he greatly limits his internet access to avoid what is colloquially called “doomscrolling” – the practice of excessively scrolling through news and social media on one’s devices. He abstains from watching television and movies and consuming other types of digital entertainment media besides classical music, and he has committed to using technology only when necessary. In addition to writing on matters like limited technology use and classical music, Mr. Crouch also enjoys writing fictional and faith-based material. He is currently working on his first novel, for which he will be seeking publication in the next year, as well as a Catholic prayer book titled: A Traditional Guide to Catholic Prayer. He is passionate about making the arts accessible to every demographic by expanding education in the arts and its capacity for increased wellbeing and intellectual stimulation, promoting the ethical treatment of animals by prioritizing adoption of animals in need, promoting open and candid discussions about mental health from a perspective informed by his devout Catholic faith, and facilitating a healthier relationship with technology as a means to improve quality of life and greater closeness with God and family.

Crouch performs on an instrument made in 2018 by Eugene Holtier of Cleveland, OH.