$20.00 – $30.00

Ben Lerner is an outstanding young Sydney artist who is quickly establishing himself as one of the emerging voices in Jazz and on the alto saxophone in Australia. Since moving to Sydney from Auckland in 2020 to study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, he has received several scholarships, and has played with the likes of Mike Nock, Matt McMahon, Laurence Pike, and Jonathan Crayford, with Nock being a mentor. He was a finalist for the prestigious National Jazz Saxophone Award in 2024, and has honed his craft under the tutelage of international saxophonists George Garzone, Immanuel Wilkins, Roger Manins, and Will Vinson.

After forming the Ben Lerner Quartet in early 2021 as an outlet to workshop and perform his original compositions, the group has made tours of New Zealand, the East Coast of NSW/Queensland, and this current tour of the South Coast of NSW/Victoria, as well as performing as a part of SIMA’s Jazz: NOW summer festival. This South Coast Tour anticipates the recording and release of his debut album as a bandleader with ABC Jazz before he begins a Masters Degree on a scholarship at the esteemed Manhattan School of Music in September. The Ben Lerner Quartet features respected pianist Steve Barry (an established bandleader and academic), together with two of Lerner’s peers in Max Alduca (double bass) and Alex Young (drums). They will perform his compositions, which although steeped in the tradition of Black American music, look to what jazz means now, and in the future.

Presented by the Melbourne Jazz Co-operative, with funding assistance from Creative Australia and Music Australia.