Born in 1955 in The Hague, Ben van Dijk received his first trombone lessons from his father, Piet van Dijk, who at the time was solo trombonist of The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra. Ben studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and earned his Solo Diploma cum laude for bass trombone in 1980. He was the first trombonist in Holland to receive a Diploma as bass trombonist. He then continued his studies in Los Angeles with Jeff Reynolds and Roger Bobo. Besides these two great players and teachers, the recordings of Edward Kleinhammer with the Chicago Symphony and George Robert's studio recordings had a great influence on Ben's development as a bass trombonist.
In 1976 he was appointed as bass trombonist with The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. After 23 years as the bass trombonist of this orchestra, Ben switched to the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He plays regularly with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Dutch Jazz Orchestra and is also active in the free lance world.
He played with the Dutch Brass Sextet for 14 years: founded in 1978, this group became one of the most prestigious brass-ensembles in Europe.
After being professor at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam he also changed schools in September 1998 and teaches now at the Rotterdam Conservatory. He was invited as teacher and soloist to the International Trombone Festival in Detmold in 1992, the ITF in Cleveland in 1994, the Budapest International Brass Festival in 1996 and the Rencontres Internationales de Cuivre in Lille (France) in 1997. Also in 1997 he performed as soloist with the Brandenburger Symphoniker in a program with bass and baritone arias from Russian and Italian operas transcribed for bass trombone. In February 1998 Ben made a two-week master classes and recitals tour, visiting some important U.S. universities—Juilliard School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Rice University and University of North Texas.
In August 1999 Ben gave a two-week masterclass in Korea and he returned to Seoul in August 2000, this time together with Chang Jun-Hwa, professor at the Yonsei University in Seoul. In July 2000 Ben was faculty staff member of the ITF 2000 in Utrecht and during this event he released his first solo CD, NANA. He has recently been appointed to the faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.
Ben has been president of the Internationale Posaunen Vereinigung from 1995 untill 1998 and was a member of the board of advisors of the International Trombone Association.
