about
A man with dark hair and a beard, dressed in a white shirt and dark vest, stands in a richly decorated room with ornate gold-trimmed paneling. He is leaning against the wall and looking down while holding a theorbo
A man with dark hair and a beard, dressed in a white shirt and dark vest, stands in a richly decorated room with ornate gold-trimmed paneling. He is leaning against the wall and looking down while holding a theorbo

Lutenist Benjamin Narvey is known for his engaging and versatile performances on 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century historical plucked instruments

notably the renaissance lute, the baroque lute, the baroque guitar, as well as Italian, French, German and English theorboes.

Born in Montréal, Benjamin studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (London) with David Miller, and has refined his understanding of period performance with Nigel North, Paul O’Dette and Hopkinson Smith.

He is attracted to many early repertories, particularly French and German solo music for the baroque lute, Vivaldi’s lute concerti, early-Italian monody, English lute song, French Airs de cour, and of course, opera.

Playing Renaissance lute, the baroque lute, the baroque guitar, as well as Italian, French, German and English theorboes

Recordings

Benjamin can be heard frequently as a solo, chamber and principal orchestral lutenist.
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Benjamin can be heard frequently as a solo, chamber and principal orchestral lutenist in international concert venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Opéra de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie, the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Dutch National Opera, the Teatro Argentina of Rome, the Teatro Real de Madrid, the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center, and also at important festivals such as the BBC Proms, London Handel Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Brighton Early Music Festival, Festival d’Ambronay, Festival de Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Festival de Saintes, Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Festival Radio France Montpellier, Leipzig Bachfest, Festival de Musica Antigua Ubeda y Baeza, FEMAS, Anima Mundi, Utrecht Festival, Valletta International Baroque Festival, and the Vancouver Early Music Festival. 

Agenda
A man with glasses and a beard holding a small musical instrument with strings and tuning pegs against a black background.

As a soloist Benjamin regularly performs solo lute recitals and lute concerti with orchestra.

As a continuist he has performed with ensembles such as Les Accents (dir. Thibault Noally), Les Ambassadeurs (dir. Chloé de Guillebon), Capella Cracoviensis (dir. Jan Tomasz Adamus), Le Concert Spirituel (dir. Hervé Niquet), Le Concert de la Loge (dir. Julien Chauvin), the English Baroque Soloists (dir. Sir John Eliot Gardiner), Ensemble Il Caravaggio (dir. Camille Delaforge), Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien (dir. François Lazarevitch), Les Paladins (dir. Jérôme Correas), Orfeo Orchestra (dir. György Vashegyi) and Vox Luminis (dir. Lionel Meunier). Benjamin is also a cofounder of the French baroque cooperative Les Affranchi.e.s.

He has had the privilege of working with directors and soloists such as Harry Bicket, Francesco Corti, Vincent Dumestre, Bruno de Sá, Ophélie Gaillard, Philippe Jaroussky, Jakub Józef Orliński, Sandrine Piau, Christina Pluhar, Lucile Richardot, and Carlo Vistoli.

Benjamin has a wide-ranging discography covering solo, chamber and orchestral repertoire. His first solo disc, “Psyché:  Weiss and the French School” (Gamut Music USA) was released at the Boston Early Music Festival in June 2017, and a recent collaboration with Jérôme Correas has resulted in a recording of some of Vivaldi’s lute music, which was released on B Records. Aside from upcoming solo recordings, Benjamin  has also been featured as a continuist on numerous other discs for labels such as Alpha, Aparté, B Records, En Phases, Erato, Glossa, Klarthe, Naïve Records, Château de Versailles Spectacles, and Warner Classics.

  • A man with gray hair and beard, wearing a white shirt and dark vest, hugging a large, ornate stringed musical instrument, likely a lute, while sitting on a vintage-style chair with a floral cushion. The background features a decorated wall with gold trim.
  • A man holding a lute against a black background, with the lute covering part of his face.
  • A man with dark hair and a beard playing a lute-like string instrument, sitting against a black background, wearing a red jacket, white shirt, blue jeans, and tan shoes.
  • A man with a beard and mustache holding a lute, standing in a room with ornate gold and white decor and floral-patterned furniture.

Benjamin is also a scholar specialising in the French Baroque.  His doctoral thesis, The French Lute during the Reign of Louis le Grand (University of Oxford, 2010) is the first cultural history of the French lute during the Grand Siècle.  In 2008, he won the Goldberg Musical Essay Competition.  He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne) in 2009, and a fellow at the Institute of Musical Research (University of London) in 2010-11.

Benjamin is the Lute Professor at the Conservatoire Jean-Philippe Rameau in Paris.

The large range of instruments on which he performs includes careful historical reproductions of original period lutes found in major European collections, made by master lutemakers Jiří Čepelák, Martin Haycock, Martin Hurttig, Klaus Jacobsen, Lars Jönsson, Michael Lowe, Ivo Magherini, and Paul Thomson. He is a proponent of natural stringing in gut.

Benjamin is an internationally active lutenist specialising in historically informed performance of Baroque and early music.

He appears regularly across Europe at leading festivals, concert series, and cultural institutions, bringing authentic period repertoire to audiences in both intimate historical venues and major concert halls.

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Performances

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  • A man with gray hair and a beard, wearing a white shirt and black vest, is sitting on a wooden chair with a patterned cushioned seat. He is holding a large, ornate with intricate detailing and small heart motifs on its edges, and his eyes are closed with a peaceful expression. The background features a wall with elaborate gold trim and white paneling.
  • A man with dark hair and a beard holding a lute in front of a black background. The lute covers half of his face, with the top part including the tuning pegs and neck visible.
  • A man in a red jacket is sitting and playing a lute, against a black background.
  • A man with a beard and dark hair holding a lute in a luxurious room with ornate gold decorations and classic furniture.