XXVIII International Chopin Festival
"Lato z Chopinem"
named after Barbara Hesse-Bukowska
Busko-Zdrój, July 19-23 2023
Ben Schoeman, Republic of South Africa
Ben Schoeman is regarded as one of South Africa’s foremost pianists. He has won major prizes, including the first grand prize in the 11th UNISA International Piano Competition, Pretoria (2008), first prize and gold medal in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, London (2009), the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Music (2011) and the Contemporary Music Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, USA (2013).
He has given solo, chamber music and concerto performances throughout Europe, Canada and South Africa in such prestigious concert halls as the Wigmore, Barbican, Cadogan and Queen Elizabeth Halls in London, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Paleis het Loo in the Netherlands, the Gulbenkian Auditorium in Lisbon, Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, the Cape Town City Hall and the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. He has performed at major festivals in the United Kingdom
Kingdom (City of London, Edinburgh, King’s Lynn and Chester Festivals), Italy (Festival da Bach à Bartók and Festival Mario Ghislandi), South Africa (Grahamstown and Klein Karoo National Arts Festivals), Romania (George Enescu Festival) and Canada (Ottawa Chamber Music Festival). He recently performed Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand as well as Tchaikovsky’s Concerto no. 1 with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Hall in London. During the 6th Cape Town International Summer Music Festival he gave critically-acclaimed performances of Liszt’s Piano Concertos nos. 1 and 2 with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and these concerts were broadcast on South African national television. He has collaborated with a number of celebrated conductors, including Yasuo Shinozaki, En Shao, James Judd, Diego Masson, Nicholas Cleobury, Gérard Korsten, Vincent de Kort, Theodore Kuchar and Conrad van Alphen.
In 2012, along with duo-partner cellist Anzél Gerber, he was awarded the first prize in the Ibla Grand Prize Competition in Italy. As part of this prize the duo gave a recital at Carnegie Hall, New York, in May 2014.
Ben Schoeman studied at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), the Accademia Pianistica ‘Incontri col Maestro’ in Imola (Italy), the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (United Kingdom) and the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (Italy). His teachers include Joseph Stanford, Michel Dalberto, Louis Lortie, Boris Petrushansky, Eliso Virsaladze and Ronan O’Hora. He is currently completing a doctoral thesis on the piano music of South African composer Stefans Grové under the supervision of Christopher Wiley at City University London and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Mr. Schoeman’s solo album, featuring works of Franz Liszt, was released in 2011 under the TwoPianists label (sponsored by Standard Bank). His DVD recording of concertos by Mozart and Tchaikovsky with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa and conductor Arjan Tien was released by Salon music and UNISA. He received the Laureate Award from the University of Pretoria (2008) and he was also awarded the KykNet Fiesta and Kanna Awards in recognition of his performances of Liszt’s music during the bicentenary of the composer (2011).
Mr. Schoeman is a Steinway Artist.