Rick Benjamin

Rick Benjamin, American conductor and historian, photographed on 22 May 2022. Rick Benjamin is the founder and conductor of the world-renowned Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. Benjamin has active careers as a pianist, researcher, author, and producer of concerts and recordings.

Early Interest in Ragtime Music Benjamin's interest in ragtime music began in the 1970s when he was eight years old and found a 1917 Victrola in his grandparents' garage. He later recalled that the music he played on the Victrola connected with him in a way that the pop music of his era did not.

Formation of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

Discovery of the Music of Arthur Pryor Benjamin went to Juilliard with intentions to make his living playing the tuba. Pryor was an influential figure in the early history of the Victrola, as he had served as first conductor for the company that produced them, Victor Talking Machine Co., and had accordingly been able to decide himself what recordings were released for the machine. he soon realized that among the collection were many rare musical scores and manuscripts, including unknown compositions by such composers as Scott Joplin, W.C. Handy, Edward MacDowell, Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern and John Philip Sousa. In a 1997 interview with the Herald & Review, he explained the presence of these rare pieces: "Anybody who was anybody in that era would send their scores to Mr. Pryor in hopes that they would be recorded" for Victrola. Benjamin made a request to Juilliard to perform a concert of turn-of-the-20th-century American composers but his request was rejected by Juilliard's dean, who felt Juilliard should focus on traditional composers. In response, Benjamin scheduled a tuba recital at the School's concert hall, but instead introduced his new "Paragon Ragtime Orchestra," leaving open the doors to draw in a wider crowd. The work was commissioned under the Doris Duke Millennium Awards for Modern Dance and Jazz Music of the Kennedy Center and American Dance Festival, which promotes such pairings.

Treemonisha In June 2003 Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra premiered their version of Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha at the Stern Grove Festival, the oldest festival of its kind in the United States, hosted in an amphitheater in San Francisco. Treemonisha had originally premiered in 1975 with full professional staging by the Houston Grand Opera, but Benjamin thought that the Houston staging was "too heavy, too Verdiesque" and spent nearly half of a decade altering it to suit the kind of 12-piece theater pit orchestra prevalent in Joplin's day.

Benjamin has expressed his hope that his simpler orchestration will allow the material to be presented in more modest venues, In addition to curating the collection of Arthur Prior, Benjamin also curates the collections of Simone Mantia, B.F. Alart, and Frank H. Wells and has worked with archivists and historians including Thornton 'Tony Hagert's Vernacular Music Research Cullen has appeared at the Ravinia Festival, The Kennedy Center, Chautauqua, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Personal life In addition to his work with his orchestra, Benjamin lectures at Susquehanna University near his home in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Midnight Frolic: The Broadway Show Music of Louis A. Hirsch (2010) The Forgotten Films of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (2005) PBS Great Performances - Now Hear This: Everyone Loves Joplin (2026)