Eva Beneke
Saturday, April 12, 2025
7:30 pm
Sundin Music Hall
Hamline University
Born in East-Berlin, Eva Beneke was drawn to music because of her fascination with her father´s guitar collection. At the age of three, to accompany her repertoire (socialist children´s songs, Beethoven chorales and the obligatory Für Elise), her parents gifted her a tiny red toy-piano.
Her music studies started with a foundation in theory and performance of classical music, complemented by weekly escapades as guitarist and song-writer for the pop/jazz band Colores de Mellow, a formation that survived her teenage years by a few and led to some local fame within her district of Berlin-Pankow.
Eva went on to successfully study classical guitar at the Berlin University of Arts. Later, the mentorship and friendship of one of Germany’s most influential guitarist, Thomas Müller-Pering, sparked a deep love for chamber-music and a fascination with higher education. During those years at the Franz Liszt-Hochschule in Weimar, her days consisted of six to eight hour-long practice sessions, long nights arranging art-songs by Schubert and Bach-suites for the guitar, sight-reading marathons with other musicians, and the satisfaction of denying the existence of a world outside the practice-room.
When the realities of pursuing a music career outside the practice chamber finally hit home, Eva moved to Los Angeles, where she then morphed into an entrepreneurial musician. Armed with the curiosity of a child that grew up behind the Berlin wall, one suitcase, two guitars and a doctorate from the University of Southern California, she started crafting what is now a career that rests on three pillars: performance, education and entrepreneurship.
What makes this musician stand out is her openness to many art forms and pathways of music and art. Seminal musical encounters with guitarist Scott Tennant, rapper Dessa, country-singer Carrie Underwood or the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra are part of her ever-growing portfolio. A tested performer, accompanist, arranger and musical partner she nurtures her many musical interests while staying true to her instrument, the classical guitar. With four records under her belt, the latest being a NAXOS-release of 19th century Spanish music for voice and guitar (2016, with mezzo soprano Nerea Berraondo), Eva is an internationally sought-after chamber musician.
As a passionate educator, Eva has taught music to every age group from kindergarten to seniors, from teaching beginning guitar classes in crime-ridden South Central L.A. to launching a classical guitar program at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. She now is serving as associate professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. She lives in Berlin with her husband, photographer Stefan Maria Rother, and their families.