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Modern and baroque violinist Benjamin Shute studied at the New England Conservatory (DMA, BM) and the conservatories of Freiburg and Frankfurt, where his principal teachers included Rainer Kussmaul (first concertmaster, Berliner Philharmoniker), Bernhard Forck (concertmaster, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin), Lucy Chapman, and Masuko Ushioda. Following his solo debut in the Mendelssohn Concerto with Stephen Gunzenhauser and the Delaware Symphony, he has collaborated as soloist with orchestras in the States and Europe in concertos/concert works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Paganini, Sarasate, Vivaldi, and others.
As chamber musician he has been enriched by collaborations with colleagues including orchestral principals (Pittsburgh, RAI Turin, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Boston Baroque) and faculty of conservatories in the States, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. He performs frequently on period instruments with harpsichordist Anastasia Abu Bakar as the Highlands Duo, with whom he has appeared at such American institutions as Wheaton Conservatory, Dickinson College, Southeast Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma Baptist University, Ouachita Baptist University, the Music School of Delaware, and the Vermont Music and Arts Center, as well as internationally at the Schloßkonzerte Bad Krozingen, Schloßfestspiele Marburg, and the conservatories of Freiburg and Frankfurt.
Recordings include the CD "In Sara Levy's Salon" with the Raritan Players on period instruments (Acis Productions) and a forthcoming album of the complete Brahms piano-violin sonatas with pianist Kai-Ching Chang.
As an orchestral player he has served as concertmaster of the Boston Chamber Orchestra, the Oklahoma Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, TACTUS, and academic and ad hoc ensembles on modern and period instruments including the orchestras of the New England Conservatory and Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. In 2018 he joined the first violin section of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, where he is honored to work with a fantastic group of colleagues.
Teaching activities have included full-time university posts at Dickinson College and Oklahoma Baptist University; adjunct appointments at Cairn University and Cecil College; guest appearances at universities in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Arkansas; and summer faculty positions at the Csehy Summer School of Music, Youth and Muse, Vermont Music and Arts Center, Chichibu International Music Festival (Japan), and ICMC Positano/Château du Val (Italy/France).
In addition to his performance activities, he is author of the book Sei Solo: Symbolum? The Theology of J. S. Bach's Solo Violin Works (Pickwick/Wipf & Stock, 2016), reconstructions of Bach's lost D-minor violin concerto (BWV 1052R) and incompletely surviving D-major sinfonia (BWV 1045), and a critical edition of Bach's youthful G-minor fugue for violin and continuo (BWV 1026), published by PRB Productions. His compositions have been performed by the Brandywine Baroque Orchestra and at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music (UK).
As chamber musician he has been enriched by collaborations with colleagues including orchestral principals (Pittsburgh, RAI Turin, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Boston Baroque) and faculty of conservatories in the States, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. He performs frequently on period instruments with harpsichordist Anastasia Abu Bakar as the Highlands Duo, with whom he has appeared at such American institutions as Wheaton Conservatory, Dickinson College, Southeast Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma Baptist University, Ouachita Baptist University, the Music School of Delaware, and the Vermont Music and Arts Center, as well as internationally at the Schloßkonzerte Bad Krozingen, Schloßfestspiele Marburg, and the conservatories of Freiburg and Frankfurt.
Recordings include the CD "In Sara Levy's Salon" with the Raritan Players on period instruments (Acis Productions) and a forthcoming album of the complete Brahms piano-violin sonatas with pianist Kai-Ching Chang.
As an orchestral player he has served as concertmaster of the Boston Chamber Orchestra, the Oklahoma Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, TACTUS, and academic and ad hoc ensembles on modern and period instruments including the orchestras of the New England Conservatory and Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. In 2018 he joined the first violin section of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, where he is honored to work with a fantastic group of colleagues.
Teaching activities have included full-time university posts at Dickinson College and Oklahoma Baptist University; adjunct appointments at Cairn University and Cecil College; guest appearances at universities in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Arkansas; and summer faculty positions at the Csehy Summer School of Music, Youth and Muse, Vermont Music and Arts Center, Chichibu International Music Festival (Japan), and ICMC Positano/Château du Val (Italy/France).
In addition to his performance activities, he is author of the book Sei Solo: Symbolum? The Theology of J. S. Bach's Solo Violin Works (Pickwick/Wipf & Stock, 2016), reconstructions of Bach's lost D-minor violin concerto (BWV 1052R) and incompletely surviving D-major sinfonia (BWV 1045), and a critical edition of Bach's youthful G-minor fugue for violin and continuo (BWV 1026), published by PRB Productions. His compositions have been performed by the Brandywine Baroque Orchestra and at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music (UK).
