Being heralded as “mesmerizing” and “powerful”, Benjamin Sledge is a flutist, composer, and music educator becoming a defining voice of New Music both in performance and creation. Among his most notable honors he has been nominated for the “American Prize in Instrumental Performance”, an invited performer to the NEON Festival, Cicada Consort Charity Concert Marathon, Cortona Sessions, Wellesley Contemporary Performance Institute, and several recordings for the North Carolina New Music Initiative. He was the recipient of the 2015 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Award in Fine Arts while attending East Carolina University. He is currently the collaborative pianist for Music FUNatic of Raleigh, NC and is the Director of Orchestral Activities and collaborative pianist at Faith Baptist Church in Knightdale, NC where he actively composes orchestral and chamber arrangements for services, conducts the Faith Baptist Church Celebration Orchestra, as well as accompanies soloists, and performs his own piano arrangements. He also serves as Director of the Exalt Music Academy, a ministry of Faith Baptist Church, where he teaches flute and directs the Exalt Wind Ensemble and Orchestra.