Dedicated to connecting audiences to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, Chicago-based harpist Ben Melsky is Executive Director and harpist of the internationally-acclaimed Ensemble Dal Niente. In close collaboration with composers and performers he encourages the creation of new work to break pre-conceived notions of the harp’s capabilities, activating new techniques, sounds, and performance practices.

Ben’s concert activities include international appearances in solo and chamber ensemble configurations. Recent performance highlights include: at the Center for Experimenation Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires, Argentina); São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival (São Paulo, Brazil); Radialsystem (Berlin); Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles); Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva (Mexico City); The Library of Congress (Washington D.C.); Big Ears Festival (Knoxville); Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC); Ecstatic Music Festival at the Kaufmann Center (NYC); Americas Society (NYC); Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music (Germany);  and Art Institute of Chicago. Having premiered hundreds of new works featuring the harp, he has worked closely with composers such as George Lewis, Ted Hearne, Raphael Cendo, Zosha Di Castri, Augusta Read Thomas, Chen Yi, Carola Bauckholt, Anthony Cheung, Wang Lu, Tomás Gueglio, Igor Santos, Tim Page, Alican Camci, Sky Macklay, Eliza Brown, Katherine Young, Sam Pluta, Erin Gee, Tonia Ko, Carlos Sanchez Gutierrez, Tania León, Roscoe Mitchell, and Ken Vandermark among others. Regularly collaborating with artists across disciplines and across borders, Ben has worked closely with the German-Icelandic contemporary music quartet Ensemble Adapter, indie noise rock group Deerhoof, and dance company Delfos Danza Contemporanea (Mazatlán, MX) with whom he was in residence at La Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán developing Proa, a new multidisciplinary piece for harp, prepared piano, and four dancers by Chicago-based composer Tomás Gueglio.

Ben is a core member of the Grossman Ensemble, the resident ensemble of the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition–an initiative spearheaded by composer Augusta Read Thomas–comprised of thirteen of the country’s leading contemporary music specialists. And since 2011, Ben has served as principal harpist of the Joffrey Ballet. He has played with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Music Festival, Ann Arbor Symphony, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Chicago Opera Theater and has played in Jeff-Award winning musicals Sunday in Park with George and Follies at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, A Little Night Music at Writer’s Theater, Animal Crackers at the Goodman Theater, and East of Eden at Steppenwolf Theater.

His discography includes: Ben Melsky / Ensemble Dal Niente (New Focus Records) called "simultaneously an outstanding academic source for the harp and an emotional voyage for the casual listener." by I Care If You Listen, Assemblage (New World Records) an Ensemble Dal Niente portrait album of American composer and scholar George Lewis which was named “Best of 2017” by the National Sawdust Log and one of the “Notable performances and recordings of 2017” by Alex Ross; Balter / Saunier (New Amsterdam Records) Dal Niente’s collaboration with rock band Deerhoof called “a weird and wonderful musical exchange” by Pitchfork Magazine. Ben was a featured musician in the Washington Posts “23 for ’23: Composers and performers to watch this year.”

Under his leadership, Ensemble Dal Niente has deepened its reputation as one of North America's most prominent new music ensembles and one of Chicago's most prolific presenters of contemporary music. Dal Niente continues to be a model for contemporary music ensembles; producing risk-taking, intellectually rigorous, and aesthetically inspiring musical performances while expanding organizational capacity and building long-term sustainability. In 2012 the group was the first ensemble ever to be given the Kranichstein Music Prize at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New music, and in 2019, Dal Niente was named recipient of the Music Prize of Fromm Music Foundations of Harvard University. Under his leadership, Dal Niente has secured major commissions of Andile Khumalo, Ted Hearne, Anthony Cheung, Nicole Mitchell, Michelle Lou, Alec Hall, Roscoe Mitchell, Carola Bauckholt, Wang Lu, Osnat Netzer, Louis Goldford, Tomás Gueglio, Igor Santos, and Erin Gee. Since 2019, Dal Niente has held the new music ensemble in residence post at the Holtschneider Performance Center at the DePaul University School of Music. From 2019-2022, Dal Niente was one of thirty Chicago-area organizations participating in the the Chicago Community Trust's SmartGrowth Program.

With Dal Niente, Ben has been in residence at Stanford University, New Music New College, Brown University, Brandeis University, The University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Splice Institute, East Carolina University, Western Michigan University, University of California Davis with upcoming engagements at University of Washington, Washington University St. Louis, University of Maryland, Peabody Conservatory, Western Washington University.

Ben received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from Northwestern University where he studied with Elizabeth Cifani and also where he received both BM and MM. He was a participant in the 2016 Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music where he worked with harpist Gunnhildur Einarsdottir. He currently lives in Skokie, IL with his wife Emmi and sons James and Teddy.