WINEDOWN FOR THE WEEKEND AT MORGAN CREEK VINEYARDS 
Live Classical and Jazz Piano performances by Ben Marti, Morgan Creek Vineyards' Artist-in-Residence.  Enjoy live music with European style hospitality, wine by the bottle or glass and gourmet wine appetizers from our wood fired oven.
No reservations. First come first seated.

Classically trained pianist, Ben Marti is a native of New Ulm, MN, currently living in Mankato, MN.  Marti has been working at Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN, since 2004 as a professional accompanist assisting in instrumental and vocal studio rehearsal and recital performance for Gustavus students and faculty, music department seminars, and theatre department musicals. He has worked as Loyola High School Musical and choir accompanist since 2007, and serves a number of local schools with accompaniment services.
 
Ben has performed with the Mankato Symphony under the direction of Ken Freed and performed as a visiting member of the Andy Stein Jazz Band.  He has donned renaissance costume to perform as Young Wolfgangprogram for youth sponsored by the Mankato Symphony. He has performed with the Symphony since 2006.
 
Marti also performs with several popular regional Jazz bands and manages the ?Ben Marti Jazz Trio.? He was a founding member, lead singer, and accordionist of the group ?Pre-Apocalyptic Junkyard Orchestra? a wildly popular local group, touring and performing an extensive variety of music venues including jazz, gypsy, ethnic, folk, and classic rock.
 
Ben left New Ulm during his high school years and continued his academics at the Waldkirchen Gymnasium, and piano studies in Jandelsbrunn, Germany. He returned to the U.S. completing his high school career as an honors graduate in 1999 from the Perpich Center for the Arts, Golden Valley, MN.

Marti was accepted as a Jussi Bjorling Music Scholarship recipient at Gustavus Adolphus College, an award he earned  from 1999 to 2003. He was a student of Gustavus Professor, Helen Baumgartner.  During his Bachelor of Arts program he entered the International Exchange Student program in Vienna, Austria, where he studied music and piano for two semesters.
 
Marti has had several professional recording experiences as accompanist for Ben Westphal - boy soprano, and the McKnight Foundation Grant. Ben is a recent recipient of the ?Emerging Artist? McKnight Grant Awarded by the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council. As recipient of the 2012 ?Emerging Artist? grant, Ben performed, in a public concert, the works of Bach, Hindemith, and Chopin. The Emerging Artist performance served as the occasion for the release of Marti?s first classical CD. The professional recording was done as a part of the project requirements of the McKnight grant. 
 
Marti is a avid collaborator with regional artists, performers, and  poets - participating annually in the Cambria Eisteddfod, as musical director for the Welsh Heritage event sponsored by the Blue Earth County Historical Society,  and Morgan Creek Vineyards.  He currently performs seasonally as Artist-in- Residence at Morgan Creek Vineyards as classical, jazz, and tango pianist, and accompanist for the  Opera ala Carte series - the winery?s monthly street opera performances.  
 
In his leisure time, Ben has become an avid bicyclist - a passion which he acquired while living in Germany and Austria.  He has worked at his family?s winery business as assistant wine-maker, vineyard manager, and has lead the annual harvest crush for the past 12years.