London-based pianist and Steinway Artist, Ben Schoeman was
awarded the first prize in the 11th UNISA Vodacom
International Piano Competition, Pretoria (2008), the gold
medal in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, London
(2009), the Standard Bank Young Artist Award (2011), the
contemporary music prize at the Cleveland International Piano
Competition, USA (2013), and the Huberte Rupert Prize for
achievements in Classical Music from the South African Academy
for Science and Art (2016).
He has given solo, chamber music and concerto performances in
concert halls over the world, including the Wigmore, Barbican,
Cadogan, LSO St Luke’s and Queen Elizabeth Halls in London,
the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Gulbenkian Auditorium in
Lisbon, the Fondazione Cariplo Auditorium in Milan, the Cape
Town City Hall, and the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. He
has performed at many international festivals such as City of
London, Edinburgh, Chester, Enescu Bucharest, Grahamstown and
Ottawa. As a concerto soloist with more than 40 works for
piano and orchestra in his repertoire, he has collaborated
with several conductors, including Wolfram Christ, Nicholas
Cleobury, Bernhard Gueller, Carlos Izcaray, James Judd, Gérard
Korsten, Theodore Kuchar, Diego Masson, En Shao, Yasuo
Shinozaki, Arjan Tien and Conrad van Alphen.
Schoeman studied the piano under Prof Joseph Stanford at the
University of Pretoria. After receiving both the PJ Lemmer and
DJ Roode Overseas Scholarships from UNISA and the SAMRO
Overseas Scholarship, he went on to postgraduate studies at
the Accademia Pianistica ‘Incontri col Maestro’ in
Imola, the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole near Florence
and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with
renowned professors including Louis Lortie, Michel Dalberto,
Boris Petrushansky, Ronan O’Hora and Eliso Virsaladze. He
obtained a doctorate in music from City, University of London
and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with a thesis on the
piano works of the eminent South African composer Stefans
Grové.
In collaboration with his duo partner, cellist Anzél Gerber,
Ben Schoeman has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. The
duo received the gold medal in the Global Music Awards for
their recording of music by Anton Rubinstein. Stefans Grové
dedicated his Concerto for Piano, Cello and Orchestra ‘Bushman
Prayers’ (2013) to Gerber and Schoeman, and they premiered the
work with the Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestras.
Schoeman’s solo album, featuring works of Liszt, is available
under the TwoPianists label. His performance in London with
pianist Tessa Uys of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony,
arranged for piano duet by Xaver Scharwenka, has been
televised numerous times. The duo is currently recording all
Beethoven’s Symphonies and two-piano works by Schumann,
Saint-Saëns and Busoni for SOMM Recordings in London. Their
first two albums have been released, receiving praise in the
BBC Music, International Piano and Gramophone Magazines as
well as the Sunday Times, Classical Explorer and on BBC Radio
3.
Dr Ben Schoeman is a senior lecturer in piano and musicology
at the University of Pretoria, where he received the Laureate
Award. He has served as a jury member at national and
international competitions.
www.benschoeman.com
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