Benjamin Small (he/him) is a classical saxophonist, music theorist, arts leadership candidate, and a fourth year student at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

As a student at Eastman, Ben is currently learning under the tutelage of Prof. Chien-Kwan Lin. He has also had the opportunity to play in masterclasses with saxophonists such as professors Taimur Sullivan, Otis Murphy, Mariano Garcia, Kenneth Tse, Arno Bornkamp and Nicki Roman. Ben credits his fellow studio-mates as a large portion of his inspiration, and strives every day to learn from them.

Ben is a member of the Catherine Filese Shouse Arts Leadership Program, where he has had the chance to take numerous courses on career development, as well as learn from two internships over his fourth year at Eastman. In 2026, he interned with the Grammy-Award winning ensemble Alarm Will Sound, was a teaching assistant with the Eastman Summer Saxophone Institute, and is currently interning with Eastman’s Music for All program.

Ensemble and chamber playing is extremely important to Ben, as he is a participant in a number of ensembles. He participates and performs with the Eastman Saxophone Project, Wind Ensemble, Musica Nova, Symphony Orchestra, and OSSIA. He is also the saxophonist of the Petrichor Reed Quintet, the Faux Woodwind Quintet, and a guitar-saxophone duo. In Reading, PA, he participates as an on-call saxophonist with the Berks Sinfonietta, and sings tenor/bass with Vox Philia, both being directed by Dr. David McConnell.

Within the realm of music theory, he primarily focuses on contemporary/avant-garde music, as well as music from the 18th century and before. He is currently working on a research and analysis project for his senior thesis on Edison Denisov’s Sonata for alto saxophone and piano and its Improvisatory/Western tactics.

While in secondary school, Ben participated in Scouting BSA, and In 2023, for his Eagle Scout project, he collected 52 unused instruments for the Reading Musical Foundation’s “Operation Replay”. He set up a few days for people in the community to drop off their unwanted musical instruments, where afterwards, he donated them to the fund. From there, the instruments get refurbished and proceed to be distributed across the county to kids in low-income homes.