Violinist Benjamin Shute has made numerous appearances as concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and teacher on both sides of the Atlantic. While a teenager, under the tutelage of Lee Snyder, he made his first foray into the realm of historical performance at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. Upon completing his undergraduate studies at the New England Conservatory under Masuko Ushioda, he moved to Freiburg, Germany, where he studied with Berliner Philharmoniker first-concertmaster Rainer Kussmaul and could frequently be found (or not) wandering the hills of the Black Forest. In 2009, he returned to Boston to pursue a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the New England Conservatory, where he is founding director of the NEC Early Music Society. He performs on an old Scottish instrument by Joseph Ruddiman (Aberdeen, 1775) and a bow by Harry Grabenstein.