Folds owns and operates his own studio, the city's legendary Grand Victor Sound Studio, better known as RCA Studio A. He's also an ambassador for music therapy.
Ben Folds grew up in North Carolina. From 1988 to 1994 he played in several bands while studying percussion at music school. With only one credit to go, he dropped out to concentrate on teaching himself piano. Following the formation of his band Ben Folds Five his musial career took off.
After three successful albums Folds decided to go solo in 2001, becoming one of the most popular singer-songwriters in the United States. In recent years, he has started to explore classical music as well. In 2014, he premiered his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, followed by a tour with the Nashville Symphony. Looking for a sound more akin to chamber music, he came into contact with the yMusic sextet, recording his album So There with them in 2015.
yMusic was formed in 2008 by six classical musicians from New York (Robert Moose, violin; Nadio Sirota, viola; Gabriel Cabezas, cello; Ales Sopp, flute; Hideaki Aomori, clarinet; CJ Camerieri, trumpet). yMusic strive to bring a classical chamber music aesthetic to venues outside the traditional concert hall, exploring the boundaries between pop and classical music – a niche often described as indie-classical. Their virtuoso execution and colourful arrangements have in a short space of time led to collaborations with a string of high profile names in pop music, such as Bon Iver, Dirty Projectors, José Gonzalez, Paul Simon, Björk, The National, Meredith Monk, Antony & the Johnsons, David Byrne and Sufjan Stevens. yMusic has released two albums with instrumental scores mainly written by pop musicians: Beautiful Mechanical (2011) and Balance Problems (2014). The former was hailed as 'classical recording of the year' by Time Out magazine New York. Indie Week praised the group for their groove, 'something which classically trained musicians seldom have'. In 2015, yMusic collaborated with singer-songwriter Ben Folds on his album So There.