The Hungarian clarinetist and conductor Benjamin Pallagi was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1994. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Perth with Allan Meyer and in Hobart, Tasmania, with Francesco Celata. He then earned a Master of Performance with distinction from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, studying with Zsolt Szatmári and Csaba Pálfi. Between 2018 and 2022, Benjamin studied with François Benda in Basel, where he completed two further master’s degrees with distinction.
In Hungary, Benjamin performed with the Hungarian State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hungarian State Opera, and the Dohnányi Symphony Orchestra. In Switzerland, he appeared with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra, the CHAARTS Ensemble, Ensemble Phoenix Basel, the Swiss Orchestra, and the Basel New Orchestra. During the 2022/23 season, Benjamin was an intern with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, after which he had a six-month contract as second clarinet/bass clarinetist, also with the Bern Symphony Orchestra.
In 2021, he performed Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet with the Anima String Quartet at the Liszt Institute Stuttgart.
In 2019, Benjamin was selected for the prestigious ARD Music Competition in Munich.
In 2023, he became the new conductor of the Liestal town band, and since 2024 he has also conducted the Frick music society. Furthermore, in June 2024 he completed a course in wind orchestra conducting in the class of Bjørn Sagstad at the Basel Academy of Music.
He is currently playing with the Bern Symphony Orchestra on another temporary contract for the 2024/25 season and regularly teaches as a substitute teacher at the Basel Music School.
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