Ben Olariu
Band Leader, Trombone, Baritone Horn, Vocals, Keyboards

An amazing trombone player who plays everything from symphonic music to jazz, rock and latin, Ben started early on in Romania and studied with Lothar Hartmann from 1972 – 1980 at the "Ion Vidu" School of Music in Timisoara, Romania where he also graduated. After that, he studied under Ioan Beldifrin from 1980-84 at the Conservatory of Music "Ciprian Porumbescu" Bucharest-Romania where he received a BM. in Performance-Trombone.

His experience includes symphonic music, opera, musicals, shows, jazz,  rock, latin, brass band and an extensive church music repertoire. From 1984-1989 he played the Principal Trombone in the State Philharmonic Orchestra "Banatul" Timisoara, Romania. He performed operas and musicals with many orchestras in Bucharest and was involved in extensive recording for radio and television.  He won many first place awards in competitions at the national level in Romania.  In 1987 he was selected as Principal in a symphonic orchestra in Germany, but the Romanian government denied him permission to travel.

Since coming to the the US in 1989, Ben has played with the Orange Coast Symphony, Saddleback Symphony, Los Angeles Opera, Downey Symphony, Fullerton Symphony, Disneyland, Aliso Viejo Symphony, Orchestra de Baja California Tijuana-Mexico, Capistrano Valley Symphony, Crystal Cathedral Garden Grove, Jazz Pacific Orchestra and the Bones West Trombone Choir.  He is also the band leader of the "Bluebirds", performed in the movie "A Walk in the Clouds", and played on many studio recordings in Los Angeles and the Orange County area.