Christian Benda

Christian Benda is a multifaceted Czech musician, noted as a conductor, cellist, and composer. He has an international reputation for his performances as a soloist, though he is better known as the chief conductor and artistic director of the Prague Sinfonia Orchestra. He has recorded with this ensemble for Naxos, focusing primarily on the Classical and early Romantic periods, including the overtures of Schubert and Rossini. He has also recorded music by his 18th century ancestors, Georg Anton Benda, Johann Georg Benda, and Franz Benda. He has appeared with other orchestras, including the Shanghai Philharmonic, the Orchestra della Toscana, the Budapest Concert Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, among many others. In conjunction with the Vienna State Opera, he has created a program to introduce children and casual listeners to the world of opera, High-Lights and Micro-Opera, which uses ideas from Goethe's color theory.