Born in Oklahoma, Ben Lanners is a cellist from a musical family. He began piano at the age of four and later studied cello, double bass, and music theory at Oklahoma State University. Ben is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts under the tutelage of professors Norman Fischer and Desmond Hoebig at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. He also holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Rice University and a Master’s of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music studying with Paul Watkins of the Emerson Quartet.
Lanners has performed in halls across Asia, Europe, and the United States including Carnegie Hall, The Concertgebouw, The Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts, Juilliard’s Paul Recital Hall, Yale’s Morse Recital Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall, and the EMPAC Center in Troy, NY. As an avid chamber musician, he has collaborated in concert with Curtis faculty members Roberto Diaz and Ed Gazouleas, pianist Jon Kimura Parker, and members of the Balourdet and Concord quartets among others. In a breakout concert, Lanners joined Conrad Tao to perform Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G minor on the 2025 Aspen Music Festival summer guest artist recital series.
An advocate for new music, Ben has worked closely with leading composers of the 21st century including Tania León, Osvaldo Golijov, Steve Mackey, Tan Dun, and Joan Tower. He spent the summer of 2024 at Tanglewood as the acting cellist of the Fromm String Quartet – a select ensemble sponsored by the Fromm New Music Foundation of Harvard. Festival experience includes the National Youth Orchestra USA, Manchester Music Festival, Taipei Music Academy and Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Tanglewood Music Festival.
In addition to his doctoral studies, Lanners is a substitute cellist with the Houston Symphony and works as an instructor on record at Rice University teaching aural skills and cello technique classes to undergraduate music majors.
Praised for his rich and powerful tone, Ben performs on cello no.52 by Lawrence Wilke modeled on the “Sleeping Beauty” Montagnana and a 2018 David Hawthorne bow.
