A native of San Francisco, Ben Brussell has been an active professional music producer, composer, band leader, vocalist, violinist, mandolinist, trumpeter, and session and concert musician. and teacher for over three decades; based in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles, California. Ben is the founder of the world music ensemble KLEZMANIA! and the classical music-based Luna Nova Quartet.
Ben’s musical background is in classical music where he has studied trumpet, violin, viola, piano, classical voice, composition, and mandolin. He studied violin and viola with the San Francisco Symphony’s Leonid Gesin and Daniel Kobialka and holds a Bachelor’s degree in viola performance and musicology from San Francisco State University. Ben is a graduate of the Master’s Level program in Screen Scoring at the University of Southern California. There, he studied with film composition legends Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, David Raksin, Christopher Young, and Buddy Baker. He studied film orchestration and arranging with Will Schaefer, Joe Harnell, and conducting with Larry Blank. Ben had the honor of being the only classical mandolinist to be invited and perform during the San Francisco Symphony's chamber music festival, the "Serenade for Mandolin and Viola," by Giovanni Hoffman, with his mentor and friend, Leonid Gesin in Davis Symphony Hall.
Ben had a long, mentoring partnership and friendship with Ursula Mamlok, of the Manhattan School of Music and studied classical mandolin with oud master John Bilezikjian in Los Angeles. More recently Ben also enjoys his musical friendships and coaching sessions on violin with Fred Lifsitz, a student himself of the famed Joseph Gingold, and violinist with the Alexander String Quartet and professor at SFSU; and conducting with Dr. Martin Seggelke.
Ben has also written original orchestrastrations for a variety of independent films and live concert formats. Most notably, he was commissioned to create an original orchestration for concert violinist, Frenec Illenyi, in a premiere performance with the Houston Symphony Orchestra of Ben's "Romanian Medley for Solo Violin and 100 Piece Orchestra." Also, Ben composed, conducted, and premiered his "Americana Hymns Medley," with the 60 piece San Francisco State University Wind Ensemble.
As a musician and producer, Ben seeks to surround himself with the finest of musicians, whose talent encompasses both a passionate and creative spirit. These synergistic elements are brought forth to engage the listener and delight the soul for the best in live musical performance. Ben has always used the absolute best musicians for his various ensembles, projects, concerts, and recordings. Ben has been a 30 plus year member of The American Federation of Musicians. through both Local 6 in San Francisco, and Local 47 in Los Angeles.
Ben’s love for the mandolin and violin has a deep family connection along with a prolific musical heritage. His grandfather, Max Gralnick, performed on violin, viola and was “the call” for mandolin in Hollywood film sessions from the late 1920s through the early 1980s. His grandfather’s mandolin performance is featured in major Hollywood film classics such as “The Godfather I” and “The Godfather Part II” (Nina Rota), “Zorba the Greek" (Mikis Theodorakis), "Spartacus" (Alex North), “Dr. Zhivago” (Maurice Jarre), "Barefoot In The Park" (Neal Hefti), "Flight of The Phoenix" (Frank DeVol), "Cleopatra" (Alex North), "Hello Dolly" (Jerry Herman), "Jumbo" (Rodgers & Hart), "Patton" (Jerry Goldsmith), "Shane" (Victor Young), "Around the World in 80 Days" (Victor Young), to name just a few. He also played with Dean Martin with his signature mandolin solo in the recording of “That’s Amore.”
Ben has personally worked in Hollywood on mandolin with film composer Angelo Badalamenti on his score “The Last Don,” featured on all the solo mandolin parts. Also, Ben worked with David Robbins on his score for Dennis Quaid’s debut directorial feature film, "Everything That Rises.”
