Severin Behnen is a Los Angeles-based composer and performer whose work spans traditional and experimental musical forms. He has collaborated with a wide range of ensembles, including the Latin folk group Cuñao, Tangled Yarn Ensemble, and One Grain of Sand Theater. His compositional interests extend across cultural boundaries, including works for traditional Korean instruments that have been presented by leading artists in Seoul, South Korea.
Behnen’s orchestral work The Raven Diverts the River premiered in 2019 at Los Angeles Valley College, and his oratorio Messiah, written for chorus and orchestra, was premiered by the Arrowhead Choral in 2022. That same year, he co-composed Butterfly
Moon, a suite for flute and small ensemble, in collaboration with Native American flautist and storyteller Michael Laughing Fox Charette. In 2025, this recording received the Best Instrumental Recording from the Native American Music Awards.
An innovator in multimedia composition, Behnen has explored interactive and visual forms of notation. His motion graphics score Unsuspecting Trees, created and performed with graphic designer Hunter Ochs, was featured at Soundpedro in Los Angeles in 2021. He is currently focused on developing musical scores within interactive 3D environments.
Behnen earned his Ph.D. in Music Composition from UCLA in 2008, where he explored alternative notational systems in interactive motion graphics. He holds an M.A. from CalArts (2003), where his culminating works included Make the Center Glow for orchestra and Brilliant Corners for sextet—both presented using computer-generated motion graphics, the latter featured at the opening of RedCat Theater in Los Angeles.
Neu Bloom from Standard Demolition
Images from interactive computer scores.
Severin Behnen 