Benjamin Günst

Brief profile

“When I manage to let go in my mind, it feels almost like trance.”

In his music, Benjamin Günst seeks the moment when technical virtuosity recedes into the background and gives way to expression, thereby creating an immediate experience. He is interested in the full spectrum of musical experience – from meditative contemplation and lyrical musical language to the extremes and abysses of great works.

Born in Kiel in 2002, Benjamin Günst received his first violin lessons at the age of seven and, from the age of ten, also took regular piano lessons. At the age of eleven, he gave his first concerts as a soloist with an orchestra. In addition to an extensive chamber music repertoire, Benjamin Günst has already distinguished himself as a soloist in the great works of the violin repertoire and has appeared as a guest with orchestras such as the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra Leipzig, the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 2024, Benjamin Günst won the Max Rostal International Violin Competition, taking first prize, the audience prize and the prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work. In 2025, he was a prize-winner at the German Music Competition, and in 2026 he received the German Business Music Prize. Benjamin Günst is currently studying at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with Antje Weithaas. He plays a violin by J. B. Guadagnini dating from 1756, which is on loan to him from the German Music Foundation.

www.benjamin-guenst.de (German only)
Benjamin Günst on YouTube
Benjamin Günst on Instagram