Benjamin Scheuer’s music is all about sensuality and humour that can be experienced directly. The joy of making music and the search for unusual sounds are a constant motivation for him – in the process, abysses open up, but people are also allowed to laugh. Sounds found in everyday life are presented as objects directly on stage or played as recordings: Scheuer’s approach of “live electrics” always applies here – electronic sounds are always produced with the simplest and cheapest possible means. For it is not technology but the human being with his voice, in his individuality and fallibility, that is the focus of his interest.
Benjamin Scheuer studied in Hamburg and Karlsruhe, with Dieter Mack, Fredrik Schwenk and Wolfgang Rihm. In Freiburg he is working on a dissertation project on Georges Aperghis théâtre musical. His compositions are performed every year in various countries and by renowned ensembles. Among other things, “Zeitraum” (2012) was performed for 600 players in the football stadium in Hanover and with the “Emergency Concerts”, which have been performed since 2012, he makes a modest contribution to saving the world with music of today together with the Orchester im Treppenhaus. In his cycle “Impulsive Lieder” (2016), awarded the Palatinate Prize for Music (young talent), he humorously explores new boundaries of vocal expression.

Benjamin Scheuer is the recipient of the Bach Prize Scholarship of the City of Hamburg, the Busoni Prize of the Academy of Arts Berlin and the Schneider-Schott Music Prize of the City of Mainz, among others. He won the Basel Composition Competition 2019 with his orchestral piece “versungen” and the Composition Prize of the City of Stuttgart 2021 with “Acht Arten zu Atmen” for accordion and clarinet. He has received working scholarships for the Herrenhaus Edenkoben, the Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia Bamberg, the Cité des Arts in Paris and the Künstlerhof Schreyahn, among others, and has been supported by the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung and the Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg. As a founding member of Musiker ohne Grenzen e.V., he regularly travelled to Ecuador, where he gave music lessons to disadvantaged young people. He currently has teaching posts in Trossingen and Mainz.

www.benjaminscheuer.de