Bryan Benner

Winner of the first ever “Walther von der Vogelweide Prize” for his contribution to the arts, Bryan Benner is an Orlando, Florida born singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter who has been performing across Europe for two decades. Now based in Vienna, he is the founder of the internationally acclaimed art-song ensemble The Erlkings, and is known for his distinctive approach to the repertoire– as a singer, chamber musician, and poetic translator.

To date, Bryan has recorded and produced 20 studio albums of his various projects, including seven albums with The Erlkings, three albums of Neapolitan music with Václav Fuksa, three albums with Die Wandervögel, and seven albums of his own original compositions.

He is an alumnus of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, and the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. For his studies in Scotland, Bryan received a full scholarship from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, as well as a generous scholarship from the Friends of Scotland, an award presented to him personally by the late Sir Sean Connery.

Bryan is proud to perform regularly in many of Europe’s most prestigious musical venues, including the Schubertiade in Hohenems, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein, and many other international Lieder and chamber music festivals.

For the past three years, he has been studying the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute of the Zen tradition, and performs regularly with this very special instrument.

Outside of music, Bryan enjoys foraging for wild mushrooms, poetry, and analogue photography.