Benjamin Altman is a dynamic young guitarist with a fresh take on the classical guitar.  He has been an active performer across the country from his native Georgia to San Francisco.  Most recently he has given concerts at Georgia State College and University, Mercer University, and with the Arvada Center Chorale.

Mr. Altman is a proponent of new music, and took part in the premieres of the Guitar Quartet by his colleague David Plylar and Open Strings by Jorge Liderman, as well as the United States and New York premieres of Y Bolanzero by Terry Riley.  He also pursues performances of new music on the mandolin, and last season performed works by Henze, Webern, and Donatoni with this instrument.

 Committed to community outreach, Mr. Altman was active as an assistant to the Eastman School’s Music For All program, The Creative Access in Baltimore, and the Community Service Project at the San Francisco Conservatory.  He continues to seek new ways and venues to promote his music to wider and underserved audiences.

 In addition to his activities as a performer, Mr. Altman is a dedicated teacher.  He has served on the faculty at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY, and the Eastman Community Music School.  Currently he teaches at the Rocky Ridge Music Center at the foot of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Mr. Altman is a doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music where he is an assistant to Dr. Nicholas Goluses.  He has previously studied at the Peabody Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where his major teachers were Julian Gray and David Tanenbaum, respectively.  In addition to the classical guitar, Mr. Altman plays in the Denver Mandolin Orchestra, and plays traditional American and Balkan folk music on a variety of stringed instruments.