Ben Folds is an Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter who has created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, a holiday album, and numerous collaborative records.
He currently tours as a pop artist, while also performing for over two decades with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras.
Folds, who served for eight years as the first ever Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, stepped down from his post when Donald Trump announced his takeover of the Center. Just days before the US presidential election, Folds recorded two sold out performances with the NSO which he released as a live album in 2025 that debuted at the top of the Billboard classical and classical crossover charts.
A New York Times Best Selling author, Ben also creates new music for film, tv and theatre, including original songs for an ongoing series of animated Peanuts specials on Apple TV.
In 2022, he launched a music education charitable initiative in his native state of North Carolina entitled “Keys For Kids,” which provides funds and keyboards to existing nonprofits that offer free or affordable piano lessons to school-age children from economically disadvantaged households. For the past 15 years he has been an outspoken advocate for arts funding, music education and music therapy in the US as a member of Americans For The Arts and the Arts Action Fund.
Special Guest Lindsey Kraft
Lindsey Kraft is a multi-faceted artist - actress, singer, and composer. You may recognize her from various TV roles including Netflix's Grace and Frankie, HBO's Getting On and most recently Netflix's Obliterated. She continues as the opening act for Ben Folds, where she'll be performing her brand of theatrical pop songs including songs from her musical, “love, me,” a one-woman show workshopped recently in LA for a LIVE album. During an opening performance for Ben at the Kennedy Center in 2023, she received a glowing review by DC Music Review which wrote that the audience "was treated and transfixed by the performance of Lindsey Kraft. Within the first few moments of her piece, concertgoers realized how perfect the pairing was. A burgeoning newcomer to musical performances, Kraft, in addition to her brilliant piano playing and songs, masterfully interacted with and entertained the audience with her witty and sincere songs." She characterizes her songs as deeply personal, funny, and sad, her sound inspired by Carly Simon, Carole King, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Randy Newman, and Broadway (but like, only the good shows).
