composer and percussionist Ben Phelps is currently earning a reputation as one of Southern California’s most exciting young composers, percussionists, and arts entrepreneurs. Phelps’s music has been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, the Verdehr Trio, the Aspen Music and Oregon Bach Festivals, Talujon Percussion Group, Boston Metropolitan Opera, the USC Symphony and Contemporary Music Ensemble, and has been commissioned by the bass clarinet duo Sqwonk, the Tonoi Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet.

As a percussionist, he's worked with a veritable who's-who of American contemporary music, including Steve Reich, David Robertson, Thomas Adès, John Adams, Steven Schick, and Michael Gordon. He's been called a "magician of the marimba" by the Huffington Post and Steve Reich called a performance of his Nagoya Marimbas "the best I've ever seen."

A frequent collaborator Rogue Artists Ensemble, a pioneering theater/puppeteering troupe based in Los Angeles, his music for the Rogues has been said to be “sonically brilliant” by the Orange County Weekly and “enchanting” and “haunting” by the LA Weekly.

He holds a BA and Master’s Degree in Music from UCLA and a DMA from the USC Thornton School of Music. Ben is one of the founders of the Los Angeles Composers Project and has worked with What’s Next? Ensemble since 2008.

Visit him at www.benphelpscomposer.com