Benjamin Scheuer

Benjamin Scheuer is a composer, lyricist, record producer, and performing musician.

Jihad! The Musical, for which Scheuer composed the score and co-wrote the lyrics with librettist Zoe Samuel, played a sold-out run at the the Jermyn Street Theatre, London, in early 2010. (Dr. Gordon Greenberg) Http://www.JihadTheMusical.co.uk

Jihad! debuted at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007, where it was called "cutting edge satire...slick, astute, and laugh-out-loud hilarious" by the British Theatre Guide.

Other recent projects include:

-The Nightingale and the Rose, a one-act opera. Two semi-staged readings were presented in September 2009 at I-Beam Brooklyn, and the piece was presented in May 2010 at the Metropolis Opera Project's new composer evening.

-Escapist Papers, a music collective run by Scheuer, with whom he is currently recording an album called "Songs for the Living, Songs for the Dead." Escapist Papers' 2007 eponymous debut album featured guitar player Gerry Leonard (David Bowie, Rufus Wainwright) bassist Geoff Kraly, and drummers Vinnie Sperrazza and Josh Dion.

-The score for two acts of BE WILDER, a four-act dance piece created by choreographer Julie Bakshi and producer/dancer Julia Bloch, which premiered at Columbia University in March 2009.

-The score for the film 'On Thinner Ice: Disappearing Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau.' The film, produced by the Asia Society, documents the melting of Mt. Everest.



Scheuer owns and runs Escapist Recording Studios in New York, where he produces his and other people's records.



Scheuer co-leads the rock band Lady Clown, in which he sings and plays guitar, with songwriter and bass player Geoff Kraly. In 2008 Lady Clown released their debut album, "First Lady Clown." The band curated and produced a nine-concert series at I-Beam Brooklyn, in the summer of 2008.





Scheuer holds a BA in English from Harvard. He studied at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Writing Workshop, and currently studies guitar and composition with Chris Rosenberg, of Manhattan School of Music. 
He has lectured at SUNY Purchase on recording technology, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. He lives in New York City.