Biography

Swiss-American violinist Ben Frueh fell in love with the violin when he was just three years old after hearing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. After begging every day for nearly a year, he finally began his first lessons on the violin at age four.

Since then, the violin has taken him to concert halls across North America and Europe. He made his first appearance at Carnegie Hall when he was fourteen as associate concertmaster of the Honors Performance Series Orchestra and appeared there again in 2022 with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA). As a member of orchestras including NYO-USA and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO), Ben has performed at the Royal Concertgebouw, Konzerthaus Berlin, Berliner Philharmonie, Isarphilharmonie, KKL and the Ravello Festival Stage. He has had the privelege of working under the direction of renowned conductors such as Daniel Harding, Jörg Widmann, Carlos Miguel Pietro and Peter Rundel.

Ben is a recent recipient of the Fritz Gerber Award, which also enabled him to attend the Lucerne Festival Academy. He was co-winner of the Lawrence Concerto Competition in 2024 with Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and was a finalist for the national MTNA Chamber Music Competition in 2026. He also received Honorable Mention at age thirteen at the Wiscarson Competition and was a winner at the YMA Concerto Competition in 2018 and 2019.

His passion for chamber music started at an early age when he began collaborating with his pianist brother, Kai Frueh. Together, they have organized several concert series, produced their own music videos and released two EPs of original works by Oregon Composer Thomas Meinzen. The most recent of these EPs, “Skyward,” is an all environmentally-themed project. During his studies at Lawrence University, he formed a clarinet trio with colleagues Isaac Epley and Isabelle Olsen, which has been together for over 2 years. They have performed at Lawrence, appeared twice in New York, performed in Italy at the Accademia Chigiana and are presently producing an album of clarinet trios.

A strong advocate for new music, Ben has premiered well over 15 pieces in the past few years. He has collaborated with composers from around the world at the Lucerne Festival Academy, SoundSCAPE Composer/Performer Exchange and Decoda Chamber Music Festival. He has worked with celebrated composers such as Mark Andre, Liza Lim and Donnacha Dennehy.

As a musician, Ben is interested in sharing music with people from all backgrounds. As part of this, he has performed at prisons, organized concerts in schools in Switzerland and the U.S. and participated in numerous concerts as part of Lawrence University’s Music for All Initiative bringing free concerts to people in the community.