Sunday Chill Series: Ben Cosgrove

Ben Cosgrove is a traveling composer-performer whose music explores themes of landscape, place, and environment. Described by the Boston Globe as “a sonic plein-air painter… [using] his piano as a paintbrush,” Ben has performed in every U.S. state except for Delaware, collaborated with groups ranging from rock bands to research scientists, contributed music to several radio and film projects (including the recent Ken Burns documentary The American Buffalo), and held residencies and fellowships with institutions including NASA, Acadia National Park, White Mountain National Forest, Isle Royale National Park, Harvard University, Middlebury College, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge, the Connecticut River Museum, and the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology.

Ben’s music has been called “beautiful and fascinating” (The Maine Edge), “deeply impressive” (Independent Clauses), and “immediately evocative and fully arresting… brim[ming] with technical mastery and emotional capital” (Seven Days). Yankee Magazine calls his music “quintessentially American, omnivorous, and democratic,” and Sound of Boston has described him as “an expert at painting sonic portraits of curious, unexpected places.” His latest album, Topograph, a collection of sixteen new pieces inspired by land-shaping processes around the country, was released in January 2026.