Born in Münster in 1966 and raised in Lübbecke in East Westphalia, he completed his piano studies with Rolf Koenen and Alan Marks in Berlin. He then attended a master class for contemporary piano music with Jeffrey Burns, who was a scholarship holder of the Käthe Dorsch Foundation during his training.
Since then, new music has occupied a large space in Surberg's artistic work: Thus, in 1997, together with other committed artists, he founded the Berlin ensemble mosaik, which is primarily committed to the music of young, as yet unknown composers; from 1995 to 1998, he directed the concert series "Studio Neue Musik"; and in 1998, together with Alex Arteaga, he dedicated himself to the modular project "Innerhalb".
The pianist has premiered works by Stefan Streich, Michael Beil ("Mach 7" for piano, tape and video), Enno Poppe ("rad" for keyboard duo, premiered in Donaueschingen 2003 with Benjamin Kobler), Klaus Lang, Sergej Newski and others. As a soloist as well as a chamber musician, Ernst Surberg has made guest appearances at many renowned international festivals for contemporary music and has participated in various radio recordings and CD productions, including a protrait CD by Sebastian Claren with the unplayable solo piano piece "Alkan".
In 2005 Ernst Surberg played a solo recital at the "UltraSchall" festival in the "Long Night of the Piano" with works by Stefan Streich (premiere "Strophen"), Agostino DiScipio, Andrew Hamilton (premiere "a phrase going sideways") and Sebastian Claren. He has also appeared in concerts with the German Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
2006 offered the opportunity to create the music for the play The "Girl" with the Theater zum Westlichen Stadthirschen at Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.
2006 Collaboration with Michael Wertmüller and member of the band cream de_/constructed with Michael Wermüller, Marino Pliakas, Jaki Liebezeit and Marian Gold.
Solo performances in 2007 at UltraSchall Berlin (Mach Sieben by Michael Beil) and in Witten at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik with the premiere of the work "Arbeit" by Enno Poppe for virtual Hammond organ, dedicated to him.
At the invitation of the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades, Ernst Surberg performed a solo recital at the California Arts Institute in October 2007 with works by Sebastian Claren, Marc Sabat and Georg Katzer.
2008 Start of collaboration with Anna Viebrock in "Arbeit, Nahrung, Wohnung"(music: Enno Poppe).
In 2009, created the music for the play Der Letzte Riesenalk (The Last Giant Auk) for Anna Viebrock and Malte Ubenauf (dramaturgy), in which he also participated as an actor; as well as in 2010 in the role of Robert Fähmel in wozuwozuwozu (both Schauspiel Köln, directed by Anna Viebrock, dramaturgy by Götz Leineweber), for which he also wrote the music (vocals by Rosemary Hardy).
Since 2009, increased concert tours with ensemble mosaik to Spain, Israel, Mexico, Malaysia, Argentina, Finland, Sweden, Hungary, Indonesia, Russia and the USA.
Further theatre music with Christiane Pohle in Leipzig at the Centraltheater and with Anna Viebrock at Schauspiel Basel with Carina Braunschmidt and others.
Invitations to workshops and master classes at Harvard University and the Conservatorio Superior de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, among others. During this time, she has worked continuously with ensemble mosaik in ever new concert forms and deepened collaborations on new pieces, for example with Georgia Koumará, Katharina Rosenberger, Karen Power, Kay Duncan David, Irene Galindo Quero, Carlos Sandoval and Rebecca Saunders.