Violinist “Benjamin Bowman played the solo ‪‎violin‬ with beautifully singing eloquence” -NYTimes

The reviews are coming in for the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) performances of Ratmansky’s new choreography to Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade. Here are some quotes highlighting violinist Benjamin Bowman:

It’s a marvel of musicality; you hear this American concerto (Benjamin Bowman played the solo ‪violin‬ with beautifully singing eloquence) far better for watching the ‪#dance‬. And yet Mr. Ratmansky’s “Symposium” also evokes conversation, debate, camaraderie, an Athenian evening of philosophical talk in the days of Socrates when men did the talking and the voting.
-New York Times, full review here.

In the new ballet, Serenade after Plato’s Symposium, ‪Ratmansky‬ once again enters new choreographic terrain. Set to Leonard Bernstein’s five-movement ‪‎violin‬ concerto of the same name, the ‪‎ballet‬ for seven men and one woman is a kind of danced conversation…Bernstein’s music is enigmatic, searching, and surprisingly dance-friendly. The violin soloist, Benjamin Bowman, played with a haunting sweetness.
-DanceTabs, full review here.

“Benjamin Bowman’s own performance…set the pace and was so perfectly timed to the dancing that music and choreography appeared indelibly twinned.” -Critics At Large, full review here.