Short Bio:
Ben MacLaren is an emerging composer and singer who enjoys rich text and textures as well as working collaboratively with others on new music and media. With a confident hand and an eye for detail, he has enjoyed success premiering a number of choral and chamber works, as well as scoring short student films and games. Through connecting personally as a singer for over a decade and creating works suited to the ensembles and media, MacLaren creates music that captivates, intrigues, and resonates on an emotional level.
Full Bio:
Ben MacLaren is a composer, arranger, lyricist and songwriter based in Dallas. Active as both a composer and choral performer, MacLaren’s music focuses on balancing personal narratives, sculpting multi-faceted textures and utilizing creative techniques in diverse ways. He explores thought provoking text, intriguing and rich harmonies, and variations of sonic ideas to create music that engages the listener. MacLaren has worked as a composer and singer with ensembles such as University of South Carolina’s University Chorus and other student ensembles at UofSC, as well as at various churches.
Notable premieres of MacLaren’s works include the SATB piece Is It Then True, premiered in 2025 by the University Chorus of UofSC, the soundtrack to the 48 hour short film Fantastic Freeloaders by 1080C productions, and As a Parent and Child, premiered in 2024 by a four hands piano duo. For a full list of works, browse the Music page.
As a singer, MacLaren has sung as a bass for over a decade in a variety of chamber ensembles and theatrical productions, as well as leading more contemporary ensembles such as the Carolina Gentlemen. He’s sung a multitude of choral works in a wide range of styles, from folk to spiritual to barbershop to classical. Career performance highlights include world premieres such as Hagen’s We Make it Home, and Rajasekar‘s Whose Names are Unknown, as well as prominent and well loved large works such as Beethoven’s 9th symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Requiem, and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.
MacLaren graduated with honors at the University of South Carolina at Columbia with a BA in Music with Composition Emphasis. His outside interests include Writing, Literature, Cinema, Poetry, Mythology, Hiking, Story-Rich Games, Biking, and Philosophy.