The French Académie des beaux-arts, part of the Institut de France, has elected George Benjamin as a membre associé étranger during its plenary session on 17 September 2025. The British composer, pianist and conductor succeeds Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023), who had occupied the seat until her death.
The Académie currently includes 12 foreign associate members, among them Farah Pahlavi, Woody Allen, Mozah bint Nasser, Norman Foster, Philippe de Montebello, Antonio López García, Jiří Kylián, Georg Baselitz, William Kentridge, Giuseppe Penone, and Annie Leibovitz.
Benjamin had already been honoured by the Académie in 2022, when he received the Grand Prix artistique de la Fondation Simone et Cino Del Duca, awarded in partnership with the institution.
Background
Born in London in 1960, Benjamin studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and piano with Yvonne Loriod at the Paris Conservatoire, later working with Pierre Boulez at IRCAM. His first orchestral work, Ringed by the Flat Horizon, was performed at the BBC Proms in 1980, when he was just 20.
His catalogue includes three operas written with playwright Martin Crimp — Into the Little Hill (2006), Written on Skin (2012), and Lessons in Love and Violence (2018) — all widely performed internationally. His most recent opera, Picture a day like this, was premiered at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2023.
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