Eastman Graduate and Faculty Member Kristian Bezuidenhout Receives Gramophone Artist of the Year Nomination
Kristian Bezuidenhout – master of a variety of keyboard instruments including the modern piano and the harpsichord – has been nominated for Gramophone Artist of the Year. Bezuidenhout, who serves ainstructor of historical keyboards at the Eastman School of Music, has been described as “a performer with rare rhetorical and poetic gifts” by De Telegraaf in The Netherlands; “one of classical music’s brightest talents” by Early Music; and “one of the foremost, and arguably the most brilliant, of today’s fortepiano players” by The Times of London.
Born in South Africa in 1979, Bezuidenhout began his studies in Australia and received both his Bachelor of Music (2001) and Master of Music (2004) at Eastman. He first gained international recognition at the age of 21, when he won both the first prize and audience prize in the Bruges International Fortepiano Competition.
Since then, Bezuidenhout has pursued a career of concerto, recital, and chamber music engagements at early music festivals and the festivals of Salzburg, Tanglewood, Edinburgh, and Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart. He is also a frequent guest artist with the world’s leading ensembles, including the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony.
As a recording artist, Bezuidenhout has recorded three volumes of the complete keyboard music of Mozart, which won the Diapason d’Or, a Prix Caecilia, and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik; two albums of Mendelssohn piano concertos, both of which won Edison Awards; and a recording of Beethoven violin sonatas with won an Echo Award for chamber music.
Information and video of Bezuidenhout and the other nine nominees for Gramophone Artist of the Year, along with the voting form, is online at www.gramophone.co.uk/artist-of-the-year-2013. The award is bestowed by public vote; voting closes on Thursday, August 13.
Previous Gramophone Artists of the Year include conductors Gustavo Dudamel and Michael Tilson Thomas, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, violinist Hilary Hahn, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
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