Violinist Benjamin Shute first became involved with the Csehy Summer School of Music as a student, returning in 2007 to serve on faculty. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he received early instruction from Kathleen Hastings and later studied in Philadelphia with Lee Snyder, under whose tutelage he made his concerto debut with conductor Stephen Gunzenhauser as well as frequent subsequent appearances as concerto soloist and recitalist throughout the region. During his undergraduate years at the New England Conservatory he studied with Masuko Ushioda and participated in performance courses by Eduard Schmieder, Rainer Schmidt and Yair Kless at the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum (Salzburg). Upon graduating he embarked upon two uniquely formative years, living in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany), where the Rhine Valley meets the hills of the Black Forest, and studying with Berliner Philharmoniker first-concertmaster Rainer Kussmaul. Since 2009 he has been living in Boston and pursuing doctoral study at the New England Conservatory with Lucy Chapman.
As a teacher, Benjamin Shute has been a faculty member of such festivals as the International Chamber Music Courses and Festival Positano (Italy) and the Youth and Muse Festival at the Boston Conservatory. He has appeared as guest clinician in both Europe and the States and was recently invited to adjudicate the USA International Music Competition. Outside the realm of performance pedagogy, he has taught classes at the New England Conservatory in harmony, counterpoint, solfège, and music history. Among his other activities, he is co-founder and president of the NEC Early Music Society, director of its period-instrument orchestra, classical music coordinator for Citylife Church Boston, and a published essayist.