Benjamin Novotny (ASCAP) is an award-winning flutist, composer, and arranger based in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Miami, Florida. His career spans performance, composition, and musicological research, reflecting a commitment to versatility and intellectual curiosity. Ben is the founder and Artistic Director of no comfort in the waiting room (NCWR), a Pittsburgh-based new music ensemble that focuses on highlighting underrepresented composers in contemporary music.
He has performed with Nu Deco Ensemble, Symphony of the Americas, Ensemble Ibis, and the Frost Wind Ensemble. Most recently, he appeared as Second Flute/Piccolo with the Northern Lights Music Festival in Aurora, Minnesota.
Ben won Third Prize in the 2026 Florida Flute Association College Young Artist Competition, performing Charles Griffes’s Poem, and his arrangement of Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps is published by ALRY Publications. He was awarded a fellowship to the Mostly Modern Festival (2025) and toured Germany and Austria with the Frost Wind Ensemble (2024), performing in major cultural centers.
Ben holds a Bachelor of Music in Instrumental Performance with a minor in Music Industry from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, graduating summa cum laude. He was named the Theodore Presser Scholar and Outstanding Student for both the Frost School of Music Class of 2026 and the Department of Instrumental Performance. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Flute Performance at DePaul University, where he studies with Aaron Goldman. His principal teachers and mentors include Jennifer Grim, Rhian Kenny, Jennifer Steele, Lindsey Goodman, Megan Ensor, and Claire Gunsbury.