“Embodying classical aesthetic, music and culture, Benjamin Skepper is a musician with an extraordinary sense of the contemporary.”
— Rolling Stone Italy

 

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SELECTED CAREER MOMENTS

WAVES / LIGO

World premiere for the tenth anniversary of the first gravitational-wave detection
Colorado · 2025

AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

Opening performance for the 2025–2027 program launch, by invitation of the Artistic Director
Melbourne · 2025

SYDNEY FESTIVAL

Headline Artist + Music Program Co-Curator, Temperament
Sydney · 2024

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Commission with Fujiko Nakaya
Canberra · 2019

STATE HERMITAGE / MANIFESTA 10

European Biennial of Contemporary Art
St Petersburg · 2014

FOUR SEASONS

Opening of the Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace, with Blancpain
St Petersburg · 2013

DOM PÉRIGNON

Composition Commission + Live Media Installation + Digital Campaign
Tokyo · 2012

MUSEO DEL NOVECENTO

Inauguration of Milan’s museum of twentieth-century art, with a season of Sunday sound improvisations
Milan · 2010

YOHJI YAMAMOTO

Tokyo Fashion Week
Tokyo · 2009

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THE PRACTICE

PERFORMANCE

Cello · Piano · Harpsichord · Electronics · Improvisation

International live performance across concert halls, festivals, museums, fashion, private events and immersive environments.

COMPOSITION + SOUND

Composition · Sound Design · Spatial Audio · Sonic Environments

Original music, bespoke commissions, multichannel composition and immersive sound.

CREATIVE DIRECTION

Fashion · Luxury · Cultural Institutions · Branded Experience

Concept development, music direction, performance, installation and multidisciplinary cultural experiences.

ART + SCIENCE

Genetic Music · Sonification · Neuroacoustic Composition · Interdisciplinary Research

Research and creative practice exploring relationships between music, mathematics, biology, perception and the human body.

THE LISN SESSIONS

Composed Neuroacoustic Listening · Live Electric Cello · Spatial Sound

A series of research-informed composed listening protocols, performed live. Composer in residence at Saint Haven, Melbourne. Presented as private sessions, residencies and commissions.

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SELECTED COLLABORATIONS

FASHION + LUXURY

LVMH · FENDI · Gucci · Dom Pérignon · Yohji Yamamoto · Krizia · Simone Rocha · H&M · Blancpain

HOSPITALITY + WELLNESS

Four Seasons · Saint Haven · W Hotel · Claska

ARTS + CULTURE

National Gallery of Australia · National Gallery of Victoria · Australian Centre for Contemporary Art · State Hermitage Museum · Museo del Novecento · Sydney Festival · MONA · Phoenix Central Park · Arts Centre Melbourne · Vivid Sydney

SCIENCE

LIGO · Science Gallery · Moscow State Conservatory · Leonardo (MIT Press)

MEDIA + EDITORIAL

Forbes Japan · Rolling Stone Italy · Rolling Stone Russia · GQ Japan · VICE · L’Officiel Hommes · Sydney Morning Herald · Limelight

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ABOUT

Benjamin Skepper is an Australian-Japanese composer, cellist, pianist, interdisciplinary artist and creative director. He began playing piano at two and toured internationally from childhood, building a musical language that spans cello, piano, harpsichord, electronics, improvisation, composition and sound design.

Over more than two decades his work has taken him across Australia, Asia, Europe, Russia and the United States: concert halls, museums and international festivals, fashion runways, luxury commissions, immersive installations and private cultural settings.

Through contrapuntal, the creative studio he founded in Tokyo, he develops performances, commissions and multidisciplinary experiences bringing together music, visual art, architecture, technology and culture for commissioners and collaborators including Dom Pérignon, FENDI, Gucci, Yohji Yamamoto, the National Gallery of Australia, MONA and the State Hermitage Museum.

Alongside his practice he pursues long-form research into music and science. He is a Research Fellow in Genetic Music at the Moscow State Conservatory and a co-author of Genetic Music research published in MIT Press’s Leonardo, with further work in sonification, spatial audio, psychoacoustics and neuroacoustic composition.

His current work includes The LISN Sessions, composed listening sessions performed live with electric cello and spatial sound at Saint Haven in Melbourne, where he is composer in residence.

He holds Arts and Law degrees with Honours from the University of Melbourne and qualified as a solicitor before establishing his international artistic practice. His Japanese-language book, Artist Thinking, was published by President Inc. in 2021.

Across every field, the constant is an interest in what becomes possible when musical traditions, cultures, technologies and forms of knowledge collide.

Benjamin Skepper Biography PDF

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SELECTED WORKS + CHRONOLOGY

Explore more than two decades of performance, composition, art, fashion, luxury, research and international collaboration.

Music, composition, live performances + festivals

2026

A Taste of the Senses V: Godai by contrapuntal at Fitzroy Town Hall (Melbourne)
The LISN Sessions – composer in residence, Saint Haven (Melbourne)

2025

WAVES: world premiere for the tenth anniversary of LIGO’s first gravitational-wave detection (Colorado)
A Taste of the Senses IV: Corpus Novum by contrapuntal at the Artists warehouse (Melbourne)
A Taste of the Senses III: Into the Dark by contrapuntal at the Artists warehouse (Melbourne)
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) 2025–2027 Program launch (Melbourne)
Echoes: Solo Show at the Fitzroy Town Hall (Melbourne)

2024

Sydney Festival Headline + Music Program Co-Curator for “Temperament” (Sydney)
Solo Show at the Fitzroy Town Hall (Melbourne)
W Melbourne DJ residency (Melbourne)

2023

Phoenix Central Park Solo Show (Sydney)
“Praeludium y Fuga” at the Melbourne Recital Centre (Melbourne)
Music Room Melbourne “Praeludium y Fuga” album launch (Melbourne)

2022

“The GABAN” by Brook Andrew, for Art Gallery of NSW, Opening of Sydney Modern (Sydney)

2021

“For Our Freedom” Music and Documentary Project (Iwate, Japan)

2020

Signal Festival Asia (Bali)
Festival No.23 (Melbourne)

2019

“Praeludium y Fuga” World Premiere at Moscow State Conservatory (Moscow)
Fields Festival (Moscow)
Cosmoscow Art Fair (Moscow)

2018

Astana Art Show (Astana)
Signal Festival at Nikola-Lenivets (Russia)
VIVID Ideas at Royal Botanical Gardens (Sydney)
Noise and Fury Festival (17th edition), DOM curated by Alexei Borisov (Moscow)

2017

Science Gallery Melbourne Commission “Pump up your Blood”
Progressive Ginza Festival (Tokyo)
Acoustic Village Festival (Tokyo)

2016

MARS Center for Media Art with 404.zero (Центр МАРС) (Moscow)
Experimental Music & Art Expo at Vadima Sidur Museum (Moscow)
Future Ambient Experimental Music Event Launch, Wall&Wall (Tokyo)
Noor Bar with Andrei OID (Moscow)
Klanghaus Festival (Vienna)
Symmetry Festival (Vienna)
TECTONIC Event launch, St Stephens Anglican Church (Melbourne)
Bennetts Lane Jazz Club (Melbourne)

2015

Beyond the Bright Black Edge of Nowhere, Fed Square (Melbourne)
Ormond Hall (Melbourne)
Super Deluxe (Tokyo)

2014

The Hermitage Foundation – Manifesta 10 EU Biennial of Contemporary Art (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
The Kelvin Club (Melbourne)

2013

MONA FOMA Festival Headline (Tasmania)
Midsummer Nights Dream Festival Headline (Moscow)
Bennetts Lane Jazz Club (Melbourne)
The Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
Theatre Royal (Victoria)

2012

National Gallery of Victoria “Napoleon: Revolution to Empire” Featured Artist, Art After Dark (Melbourne)
Palazzo Serbelloni x AMICA Magazine 50th Anniversary (Milan)
Venice Carnivale – “The Forbidden Pleasures of Casanova” (Venice)
Theatre Royal (Victoria)
The Toff in Town (Melbourne)

2011

Museo del Novecento Sunday sound improvisations (Milan)
Fondazione Alda FENDI – Esperimenti di Quaresima (Rome)
Promotional Video for Fabriano Jazz Festival Umbria (Rome)
“Rooms 22” Japan Fashion + Design Trade Fair Sound Installation (Tokyo)
Chapel Off Chapel “Inimitable” album launch (Melbourne)

2010

“Gallery on the Hill” Opening (Tokyo)
“United Nations Museum” Opening with butoh master Kudo (Tokyo)
2nd Tokyo Photographic Art Fair – Opening Night Performance (Tokyo)
ExperIstanbul at 60m2 (Istanbul)
amfAR Gala Vienna Life Ball VIP event with Calvin Klein (Vienna)

2007

FINA International Swimming Championships at Fed Square (Melbourne)
National Gallery of Australia 25th Anniversary Performance (Canberra)

2006–2007

Meredith Music Festival, Rainbow Serpent Festival, Folk Rhythm and Life Festival, St. Kilda Festival, Tasmanian Forest Festival (Australia); Revolver Upstairs (Melbourne), Abercrombie, Beach Hotel (Sydney), Solbar (Brisbane), Mojos Bar, Civic Hotel (Perth), Northcote Social Club, Corner Hotel, Esplanade Hotel, Evelyn Hotel, East Brunswick Club and Sidney Myer Music Bowl (Melbourne) with Melbourne trip-hop band “Miso”

2003–2004

Environ Sessions with Uberlingua at Loop Bar curated by Brendan Palmer (Melbourne)

1991

International Music tour as Suzuki Music Ambassador (New Zealand)

1987–1995

National tours with Carinya Strings Melbourne, The National Boys Choir, Percy Grainger Youth Orchestra, Melbourne String Ensemble and as a solo musician

Museum commissions + sound art + art exhibitions

2021

“A Taste of the Senses: Introspection” at Kudan House (Tokyo)
“Hibiki” Exhibition at Tiers Gallery Omotesando (Tokyo)

2020

“A Taste of the Senses” Series Launch at Kudan House with Pommery Champagne (Tokyo)

2019

National Gallery of Australia with Nakaya Fujiko (Canberra)

2016

Cairotronica Multi Media Festival Installation (Cairo)
Symmetry Festival Exhibition, Hungarian Institute, with the Moscow Conservatory (Vienna)

2015

World Premiere at Siggraph Asia – 16 ch. multimedia installation with NHK, Canon (8K Camera launch), Tokyo Denki University and The Hokusai Art Foundation (Kobe)
Sound Art Exhibition, C’a D’Oro Gallery, Chelsea (New York)

2011

“Dirty, Dirty! Sex, Sex!” ArtGig Tokyo Group Exhibition with Yoko Ono (Tokyo)

2010

Museo del Novecento Art Museum Inauguration (Milan)
“Sight & Sound: Music & Abstraction in Australian Art” at The Victorian Arts Centre: curator Steven Tonkin (Melbourne)

2009–2010

“No Mans Land” at the French Embassy: curator Helene Kelmachter (Tokyo)

2009

“requiem d’une marionette” at PLSMIS Art Gallery (Tokyo)
“requiem d’une marionette” at Frank Lloyd Wright and Tadao Ando’s “Jiyu Gakuen” (Tokyo)

2007

National Gallery of Australia “Culture Warriors” Indigenous Art Triennial (Canberra)
“Bright Fires” performance artwork at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces with Christian Thompson (Melbourne)

Solo album releases – contrapuntal records

2023

Praeludium y Fuga at Music Room (Melbourne)

2015

“Apodictic” at Ormond Hall (Melbourne)

2013/14

“In The Field” at Konno Hachiman Shrine (Tokyo) and The Kelvin Club (Melbourne)

2012

“Inimitable” at Konno Hachiman Shrine (Tokyo) and The Toff in Town (Melbourne)

2010

“Parnassus” at Konno Hachiman Shrine (Tokyo)

2009

“Eika 詠歌” at “Jiyugakuen” Frank Lloyd Wright / T. Ando (Tokyo)

Composition commissions, advertising campaigns and filmworks

2012

Dom Pérignon composition commission, live media installation and digital campaign producer (Tokyo)
“Fairytale in Tokyo” – short film co-producer and Director of Music

2010

Electrolux “UltraSilencer” live performance + YouTube Advertising Campaign Producer for Press Launch VIP Event (Japan)

2009–2010

“No Mans Land” Exhibition Documentary Film, French Embassy (Tokyo)

2007

“Boodjarri Business” Documentary Film Music Director for the Western Australian Government Department of Health (Perth)
Qantas Airways “Inflight Entertainment” BGM (Australia)
ABC TV “First Tuesday Book Club” program BGM (Australia)

Artist residencies, fellowships

2018

Astana Art Show Residency (Kazakhstan)

2017

Science Gallery Melbourne inaugural artist residency (Melbourne)

2016

Klanghaus (Vienna)
Moscow State Conservatory Research Fellowship (ongoing) (Russia)

2015

St Petersburg State Conservatory of Music (by invitation) (Russia)

2009–2010

“No Mans Land” artist residency at the French Embassy (Tokyo)

Fashion | luxury commissions + event activations + art direction by contrapuntal

2021

H&M x Simone Rocha – Immersive Media Art Installation + Bespoke Fashion x Art VIP Shopping Experience (Tokyo)

2018

FENDI private event (Rome)
COEDO Beer Brewery Installation (Japan)

2016

VOGUE Fashion’s Night Out x Tsvetnoy Central Market Kinetic Media Installation (Moscow)
Gazprom Corporate Event (Moscow)

2015

Spring Fashion Week Music Direction and Performance (Melbourne)
DULUX Color Awards Sound Design and Performance (Melbourne)
Crown Casino Melbourne VIP Fashion Night Sound Design and Performance (Melbourne)
SENSIS Corporate Event (Melbourne)

2014

Milan Fashion Week Sound Installation for Rachel Skepper Millinery at White Trade Show (Milan)
Milan Fashion Week for KRIZIA at Palazzo Litta (Milan)

2013

Opening for The Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace with Blancpain and Tourbillon (St. Petersburg)

2011

Philip Treacy Private VIP Fashion Show, Christines (Melbourne)
FIAT 500 by GUCCI “Chicnic” Car Launch, Italian Embassy (Tokyo)

2010

Rooms 22 Fashion + Design Trade Fair 3 day sound installation and performance, Harajuku National Sports Stadium (Tokyo)
Paris Fashion Week for The Viridi-Anne, Tour Jean sans Peur (Paris)

2009

Tokyo Fashion Week for Yohji Yamamoto, Olympic Stadium (Tokyo)

2008

Claska Hotel Opening (Tokyo)

2007

Australian Greens Party Federal Campaign Launch (Melbourne)
Victoria Department of Environment Conference (Melbourne)

Press

Much of this coverage was published in Italian, Japanese and Russian. The summaries are in English.

Rolling Stone Italy  2011, Italian. Print feature (edition 91) and extended online interview.

The feature covers his performances at Milan’s Museo del Novecento. The interview describes Maison de contrapuntal in Tokyo, an atelier and private salon for music, food and long-form performance, with acoustics developed with the Japanese speaker designer Taguchi, alongside his Shinto shrine installations and a three-day performance at a Tokyo fashion and design trade fair.

Rolling Stone Russia  2011, Russian (edition 84).

Profiles him as composer for Tokyo Fashion Week and the Yohji Yamamoto shows. Notes the opening of the Museo del Novecento, his work with Japanese major labels and with the Big Dada and Ninja Tune record labels, an Electrolux campaign, and the Fiat and Gucci launch in Tokyo.

AMICA Italy  May 2012, Italian.

A profile of his work across classical performance, film, theatre and fashion, including Philip Treacy and Yohji Yamamoto, and of his Australian-Japanese heritage and his family’s history in Hiroshima.

GQ Japan  December 2012, Japanese.

One of five creative figures profiled; described as a Japanese-Australian performer, composer, installation artist and producer working internationally.

Time Out Russia  July 2013, Russian.

Feature.

VICE / THUMP Australia  March 2015, English.

Interview and music video premiere: “a new course in orchestral electronica”.

Good Weekend  2017, English.

Artist feature.

L’Officiel Hommes Kazakhstan  November 2018, Russian.

Covers his residency and performances in Astana and his collaboration with Kazakh musicians. Records that he was the first recognised international artist invited to open the first contemporary art exhibition in Astana.

Forbes Japan  March 2021, Japanese.

Profiles him as a third-generation Japanese-Australian artist and cellist: classical training, a law degree, Japanese-language study at Sophia University, NGO work in Cambodia, and a practice that joins music, art, law and business.

Limelight  June 2023, English.

His own column, “Cutting Edge: Music, Mathematics and Healing”.

The Sydney Morning Herald  2024, English.

National arts feature ahead of his Sydney Festival headline.

CX Magazine  2025, English.

Feature on his spatial audio practice with L-Acoustics L-ISA. Notes that he is the first independent Australian artist and studio to feature L-ISA in Australia.

Television

2024

ABC TV Weekend Breakfast

2021

NHK Japan, Sendai Piano

2010

MTV Italy Interview (Milan)

2009

Tokyo Television Morning News (3 December, Tokyo)
iTunes Japan “Versus”, TBS Television Network (Tokyo)

1990

“New Faces”, Channel 9 Television Network (Melbourne)

1989–1991

“Carols by Candlelight” with The National Boys Choir (Melbourne)

Selected charity work + art boards

2022 ongoing

Gasworks Arts Park Board Director

2013

Police Look Beyond – featured in a photographic book by Giovanni Gastel et al. to raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières in response to the Sahel emergency (Italy)

2010

“Black Wave: Help Haiti” Charity Event for Japan Red Cross (Tokyo)
“Mode for Charity” for the White Ribbon Alliance and W.H.O (Tokyo)

2006

Fundraising Event for the Gyuto Monks of Tibet (Melbourne)

2004–2006

Youth Affairs Council Victoria Policy Advisory Group Board Member (Melbourne)

2002

Non-Timber Forest Products NGO Human Rights Advocate (Cambodia)

1996

Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria Performance (Melbourne)

Private performances and patrons

2010

Friends of the Centre Pompidou (Tokyo)

2009

Francesca von Habsburg, founder of TBA21 (Tokyo)
Dr Yoshiro Nakamatsu (Tokyo)

2007

The Gyuto Monks of Tibet (Melbourne)

1995

Welcome Ceremony for His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet (Melbourne)

1990

Sir Sidney Baillieu Myer (Melbourne)

Music conferences and masterclasses

1994–1996

Melbourne String Ensemble directed by Dr. Fintan Murphy (Melbourne)

1994–1995

Melbourne Youth Music (Melbourne)

1990–1991

“Studio Appia” directed by Richard Owen (Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney)

1991

Suzuki Music at Cambridge (New Zealand)
Adelaide University with “Carinya Strings” directed by Andrew Schellhorn and patronised by Sir Sidney Baillieu Myer (Adelaide)

1989–1991

“The National Boys Choir Australia” directed by Mr. Peter Casey (Melbourne)

Government grants + scholarships

2023

Creative Partnerships Australia

2022

Creative Partnerships Australia

2019

Creative Partnerships Australia
Australia Japan Foundation

2018

Creative Partnerships Australia MatchLab Recipient

2016

Creative Victoria Quick Start Grant

2002

Melbourne University Exchange Scholarship
Association of International Education Japan Scholarship

Qualifications

2008

JLPT Certificate Level 1, Japanese Language Proficiency

2007

Certificate IV in Small Business Management, RMIT University Melbourne

2006

Admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria as solicitor and barrister
LLM, University of Melbourne (presently deferred)

2005

BA / LLB (Hons), University of Melbourne

Brand ambassadorships | endorsements

Yamaha Music | Ableton | Oyaide

Publications

Journal articles

1.  Quehenberger, R., Skepper, B. and Stepanian, I. (2020) ‘[C G A T] Epita Matrix Genetics: Toward a Visualization of Genetic Codes via “Genetic Music”’, Leonardo, 53(1), pp. 88–89. MIT Press.

2.  Skepper, B. and Stepanyan, I. (2017) ‘Bioinformatics: Towards a New Culture of Science and Art’, Biomedical Radioelectronics (Moscow), no. 2, pp. 44–46.

Books

3.  Skepper, B. (2021) Artist Thinking [アーティストシンキング]. Tokyo: President Inc. (in Japanese).

Columns and essays

4.  Skepper, B. (2023) ‘Cutting Edge’ [column], Limelight, June.

5.  Skepper, B. (2021) ‘Do You Live Like a Robot?’, Artnews Japan.