Ben Folds in Philadelphia

Ben Folds is an American singer-songwriter and pianist, born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1966. He first became known as the frontman and principal songwriter of the piano-rock trio Ben Folds Five, whose songs include “Brick” and “Battle of Who Could Care Less.” His solo catalogue includes the album Rockin’ the Suburbs and the song “The Luckiest.” The 2002 solo concerts documented on Ben Folds Live featured him alone at a grand piano, performing material from his band and solo records. In 2012, he toured again with the original Ben Folds Five lineup following the release of The Sound of the Life of the Mind. His orchestral work has also included concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra founded in Philadelphia in 1900. Conductors Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy helped shape the rich ensemble sonority known as the “Philadelphia Sound,” and the orchestra is heard on the soundtrack to Walt Disney’s Fantasia. The orchestra gave its first concert at the Academy of Music in 1900, and the hall remained the base for its main subscription season until 2001. The season then moved to Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, an auditorium now named Marian Anderson Hall. Its 1973 tour made it the first American orchestra to tour the People’s Republic of China, including concerts in Beijing and Shanghai.