Ben Todd is a drummer, percussionist, composer and bandleader from Adelaide in South Australia.
Over the past 10 years, Ben has been touring the world with the internationally acclaimed "Cirque du Soleil" as
a featured drummer, percussionist and now bandleader with 3 of their shows, "CORTEO", "KOOZA" and most
recently "VOLTA". During this time, Ben has performed in Japan, Russia, The United States, Spain, Canada,
France, Belgium and England and performed over 1500 shows.
Prior to joining Cirque, Ben performed with a wide range of artists back in Australia including Kate Cebrano,
Paulini, Ben Folds, Doug Parkinson, Rhonda Burchmore, James Morrison, David Campbell, Barry Humphries
and Glen Shorrok, as well as playing in the pit orchestras for many musical theatre shows including the
Australia/NZ tour of Cats, Miss Saigon, Grease, Metro Street and The Candyman.
Ben began playing drums at the age of 3, adding to an already large family of drummers (3 generations to be
exact). His first introduction to the instrument was from his father, who was a full-time freelance musician at
that time.
Before reaching high school, Ben had already toured nationally with various bands and was starting to make
his own mark on the professional Adelaide music scene. At age 13, he was accepted under scholarship to
attend the acclaimed Marryatville High School as a specialist music student. During his time at Marryatville,
Ben was part of the award winning "Big Band One" which led him to tour both nationally and internationally,
including performances in London, New York and Los Angeles.
After leaving high school, Ben quickly became established in the Adelaide music community and began work in
sessions, musicals and corporate bands. This allowed him to develop an extremely versatile approach and had
him performing in a multitude of different musical environments. Ben also conducted several drum clinics and
workshops both in Adelaide and interstate.
In 2007, Ben was selected as a "James Morrison Jazz Scholarship" finalist, then in 2008, Ben was a featured
artist at the "Ultimate Drummers Weekend" in Melbourne, Australia. He would later be asked back to perform
again in 2015, this time in a duo format with Multi-Instrumentalist Adam Page. 2010 saw Ben release his debut
solo studio album, "20TEN" which featured all original compositions, and later released as a play-along
package for drums. Since the release of this album, Ben has also gone on to release 2 more recordings as a
leader; the “Ben Todd and Adam Page Duo EP” in 2015 and the “Ben Todd Quintet EP” in 2016.
Ben has recently released his new album “Memento” featuring musicians from all over the world that he met
whilst touring with Cirque du Soleil.
