Media Theatre Welcomes New Resident Music Director Ben Kapilow

The Media Theatre heads into its 2017-18 season with Ben Kapilow as its new Resident Music Director. The theatre's Artistic Director Jesse Cline made the announcement recently when discussing the upcoming Broadway Series which includes the titles "Carousel", Disney's "Beauty and The Beast", "Next To Normal", "IF/ THEN", and "Newsies". All are musicals, as the theatre is not preparing a classic play for the first time in three years.

Cline said, "I look forward to working with Ben. He's been a member of our team for the past two years, working on special projects and within our education program. He has an M.M. in composition from the Peabody Conservatory, where he also completed the Music Teacher Certification Program. He has a bit of a local connection also, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in music and psychology. We have a great season lined up. He'll be working with our professional actors for each show, as well as teaching private lessons and instructing our New School music theatre education program."

As a composer, Kapilow's classical pieces have been performed by Symphony Number One, the Great Noise Ensemble, Trio Ex Animo, the University of Scranton Singers, and at the Jack O'Lantern Blaze Festival in Hudson Valley, NY.

His children's pieces have been performed by over 40 choruses, and he has written the score for three children's musicals for the Media Theatre, including the current "Alice In Wonderland", which is on stage through August. One of the three, "Peter Pan and Wendy," won the Broadway World "Best of Philadelphia Theatre" Award for Best New Work.

Kapilow is approaching his new position with a clear goal in mind. "My goal is to cater what I do as much as possible to the diverse needs of the theater," he said. "My position involves everything from teaching 6-year olds how to sing Disney songs to music directing professionals who have been on Broadway, so I want to take every new task on its own terms and help the Media continue to attract as wide of a range of people as possible."

Having been working with Camp Media Theatre for two summers, and currently involved once again as its music director, he said, "I love working at the Media Theatre because the programming here encompasses a wide variety of avenues for me to explore my own random hodgepodge of interests."

Kapilow has a fondness for composing and says, "While focusing on composition is not common for music directors, I believe that this training has made all the difference for me. Whenever I encounter a piece of music, I think about it from a compositional standpoint, which allows me to really engage with it in an inside-and-out manner. This is incredibly helpful no matter what I do, whether I'm sight-reading a piece at an audition, working with a singer on interpreting the song, or even just listening to music for fun."

"For me, composing is incredibly detailed work, and I will often spend hours working on just a few seconds of music," he said of his work process. "I find it inspiring when vocalists bring the music to life, whether they're professionals or children. I've had this experience a lot at the Media Theatre, and it is incredibly uplifting and reminds me why I go through all the effort of composing in the first place."

With all of his experience at a relatively young age, his approach adds a fresh perspective to what audiences will hear when attending the 2017-18 Broadway Series at The Media Theatre.

For tickets to any upcoming shows at The Media Theatre, call 610-891-0100 or visit mediatheatre.org. Subscriptions are available (VIP, Traditional, Preview, or Flex).

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