#Edward siu series#

#Edward siu series#

His 2002 appearance as conductor and oboe soloist with Rachel Barton and the Chicago Chamber Orchestra was broadcast on WSIU public television, and his appearance with The Oak Street Winds on the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series was broadcast live nationally on 300 affiliate radio stations.

The late Robert Marsh of the Chicago Sun-Times described his “beautiful tone and precise intonation” during the famous oboe solo in the Brahms Violin Concerto. Benyas also enjoys an active career as an oboe and English horn player, having performed with the Chicago Symphony under Daniel Barenboim, the Lyric Opera under Zubin Mehta, the Milwaukee and Grant Park Symphonies, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, at the Spoleto, Banff and Carmel Bach summer music festivals, as Principal Oboe for Andrea Bocelli’s National Tour, as founder/director of The Oak Street Winds and as Principal Oboist of the Des Moines Metro Opera. His conducted repertoire includes nearly 400 works, including a dozen world premieres and over two-dozen complete operas and ballets. Benyas has led the New Chicago Chamber Orchestra on numerous tours of the Midwest. Vitosha International Conducting Institute, where he coached rising young conductors from the United States, South America and Europe. It is to Maestro Benyas’ great credit that the musical execution was of a very high order throughout.” He simply swept the audience away with a beautiful presentation of this piece.” Reviewing Mozart’s Magic Flute in 2019, Opera Today wrote, “Edward Benyas indeed worked some ‘magic’ in the pit with his assured baton eliciting stylish results from a sizable orchestra. A California reviewer wrote: “Maestro Benyas captured every subtle nuance and capitalized upon every beautiful moment in the symphony while maintaining balance and precision. Important past conducting engagements include La Bohème at the Silesian State Opera, The Magic Flute at Pacific Opera, Shenzhen Symphony and Tianjin Opera Orchestra (China), New Symphony Orchestra of Bulgaria, the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, the Illinois Chamber Symphony, the Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra before the President and an audience of 10,000, and working with artists of international stature over 14 years with the Southern Illinois Music Festival. Benyas has guest-conducted orchestras in California, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Maine, North Dakota, Washington, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. He also studied at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors under the late Charles Bruck, and at the International Workshop for Opera Conductors with the late Georg Tintner.

Benyas holds a graduate degree in Orchestral Conducting and Oboe Performance from Northwestern University, as well as Bachelor and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Michigan. A student of Ray Still, Robert Morgan and Victor Yampolsky, Mr. Under his leadership, the Southern Illinois Symphony was named Orchestra of the Year, and he was named Conductor of the Year, by the Illinois Council of Orchestras. He appeared on national television leading a chorus and orchestra comprised of musicians from throughout Illinois during funeral services for Senator Paul Simon.

Benyas previously served as Music Director of the Skokie Valley Symphony, the North Shore Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Fantastique! and the Southern Illinois Youth Orchestra. Edward Benyas is Professor of Oboe and Conducting at SIU Carbondale, Music Director of the Southern Illinois Symphony, the New Chicago Chamber Orchestra-with which he made his European conducting debut-and founder and Artistic Director of the Southern Illinois Music Festival, which presents three-dozen concerts annually each June.