About

Benjamin Gabbay (B.Mus., M.Mus., ARCT) is a composer and pianist based in Toronto. His compositions have received recognition by Toronto’s St. James Cathedral (for i thank you God for most this amazing day, one of two winners of the cathedral’s 2018-2019 choral composition competition), Jeunesses Musicales Canada (artistic prize, “Do Mi Si La Do Re” Competition 2020, for And so the night became), the Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Competition (honourable mention, 2017, for Lux Aeterna), and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (featured in Explore the Score 2024 for his symphonic poem The Garden of Earthly Delights). In 2025, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra premiered his tone poem Overture to the Old World. His works have been described by conductors and composers as filling a demand in Canadian music for compositionally and technically adventurous works that still follow in a tradition with mainstream appeal.

Benjamin is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Toronto under Professor Norbert Palej. Through his undergraduate and graduate studies, he has been the recipient of several scholarships and awards, including the Faculty of Music Graduating Award (2023), the Lothar Klein Memorial Fellowship (2020), and the Lobodowsky Choral Scholarship (2018).

Since 2022, Benjamin has been an Associate Composer with Arcady, a contemporary music ensemble in Brantford, Ontario (www.arcady.ca), with whom he regularly presents premieres of works for choir and chamber ensemble.

In addition, Benjamin is the author of two fantasy-fiction novels published in 2012 and 2015; you can read about them here. He is also a digital designer, specializing in web design, graphic design, and desktop publishing; you can read more about his work here.