Benjamin Günst received his first violin lessons at the age of seven. After three years as a junior student at the Academy of Music in Lübeck, he began his violin studies with Prof. Antje Weithaas at the Academy of Music »Hanns Eisler« in Berlin. He regularly receives further inspiration at chamber music and master classes in Germany and abroad with professors such as Ana Chumachenco, Vadim Gluzman, Eberhard Feltz, Nora Chastain and Kolja Blacher, including several times as part of the Kronberg Academy.
In October 2024, Benjamin Günst won the first prize, the audience prize and the prize for the best interpretation of a commissioned work at the Max Rostal International Violin Competition. In June 2024 he also received the biennial Culture Prize of the City of Kiel. As a violinist and pianist, he has already won several national prizes in the Jugend Musiziert competition.
His studies are supported by several scholarships. Thanks to the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, he has already received several high-quality instruments on loan, including a violin by Andrea Guarneri from 1668 for the years 2019 to 2022.
Benjamin Günst made his solo debut at the age of eleven. Since then, he has performed with orchestras such as the Kiel Philharmonic, the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, the Potsdam Chamber Academy, and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is also an enthusiastic chamber musician and a regular guest at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Festival Internacional de Música Pau Casals and the Heidelberger Frühling. In 2024 he took part in the »Brahms.LAB«, where he developed his own concert formats with a group of young, top-class musicians during a twenty-day residency.
Daniel Hope invited him to collaborate as a duo partner on his album »DANCE!«, which was released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2024. Benjamin Günst also gained experience in professional orchestral work at the highest level as a regular substitute in the first violins of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Since the spring of 2022, Benjamin Günst has been playing a violin made by Stefan-Peter Greiner (London 2020), which was kindly made available to him by Dr. Monika Wulf-Mathies. Since December 2023 he has also been able to play a violin by Carlo Bergonzi (Cremona anno 1733), made possible by a loan from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins.
