Biography

Severin Behnen takes an eclectic approach to music making - from composing and performing for theatrical productions to working with jazz, folk, and bluegrass groups, classical and new music ensembles. Between 1990 and 2000 he served as composer, musical director, and performer in numerous theatrical productions at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis. Between 2000 and 2003 he traveled with the company on three separate occasions to South Korea collaborating with both Korean and Iraqi performers as part of the Guacheon Theater Festival. In 2003 his compositions Make the Center Glow for chamber orchestra and Brilliant Leaves, which employed a computer animated score, were selected for the opening of the RedCat Theater in Disney Hall in Los Angeles. In 2004 he composed and performed in Bari Gongju, a Korean mask and puppet play premiered at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles. He served as composer and performer with Automota Theater in a 2005 screening of Magical Projections: A Screening of Early Trick Films and in the 2006 toy theater production of Frankenstein, Mortal Toys. In 2007 Frankenstein was remounted in Los Angeles at the Panorama Theater and in New York at the HERE Arts Center. In 2008 he worked with One Grain of Sand Theater on their production of Ironman at Manual Archives in Los Angeles and On the Pulse of Morning at Disney Hall’s Toy Theater Festival in Los Angeles. In October of 2010 he composed and co-directed music for the opening ceremonies of the Guacheon Theater Festival in South Korea.

Mr. Behnen received his Ph.D. in Music Composition from UCLA in 2008. He regularly performs with and composes for various musical ensembles including Tango Nuevo, Laberinto, and Saffron Parade, as well as organizing various other performances of his music. He teaches at Los Angeles Valley College and continues research into the development and testing of various types of musical notation in an interactive motion graphics environment.