Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation. He’s created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous collaborative records. His last album was a blend of pop songs and his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra that soared to #1 on both the Billboard classical and classical crossover charts. For over a decade he’s performed with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, and currently serves as the first ever Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at the Kennedy Center where he curates a concert series called "Declassified: Ben Folds Presents" that spotlights contemporary artists on stage with the NSO. In the Fall of 2019, Folds released his first book “A Dream About Lightning Bugs,” which debuted as a New York Times Best Seller, and is described as a collection of interrelated essays, anecdotes and lessons about art, life, and music. This year, Folds continues to host his podcast series - Lightning Bugs: Conversations with Ben Folds, has begun work on his next album, will tour in the Spring and Fall, and is preparing to work on a TV series. An avid photographer, Folds is also a member of the prestigious Sony Artisans of Imagery, has worked as an assignment photo editor for National Geographic and The Nature Conservancy, and was featured in a mini-documentary by the Kennedy Center's Digital Project on his photographic work. An outspoken champion for arts education and music therapy funding in our nation's public schools, Ben has served for over five years as an active member of the distinguished Artist Committee of Americans For The Arts (AFTA), and serves on the Board of AFTA’s Arts Action Fund. He also served as Chairman of the Arts Action Fund’s ArtsVote2020 national initiative that encouraged voter engagement in the 2020 US elections, and continually advocates for improving public policies for the arts and arts education.
