Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893 – 10 April 1960) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of Jamaican Rhumba, composed in 1938.
He was born in Sydney, but at age 3 his parents moved to Brisbane. At the age of six he made his first public appearance as a pianist and his formal musical training began three years later with the Brisbane City organist, George Sampson. In 1911, Benjamin won...
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Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893 – 10 April 1960) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of Jamaican Rhumba, composed in 1938.
He was born in Sydney, but at age 3 his parents moved to Brisbane. At the age of six he made his first public appearance as a pianist and his formal musical training began three years later with the Brisbane City organist, George Sampson. In 1911, Benjamin won a scholarship from Brisbane Grammar School to the Royal College of Music (RCM), where he studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford, harmony and counterpoint with Thomas Dunhill, and piano with Frederick Cliffe.
In 1914 he joined the Officer Training Corps, receiving a temporary commission in April 1915. He served initially in the infantry as 2nd Lieutenant with the 32nd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and in November 1917 he was attached to the Royal Flying Corps. On 31 July 1918 his aircraft was shot down over Germany by the young...
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