Kristian Bezuidenhout

Australian pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout is admired for his pristine technique across a range of period keyboards, particularly the fortepiano. Born in South Africa in 1979, Bezuidenhout moved to Queensland in 1988 and fell in love with historic instruments after hearing Malcolm Bilson's recordings of the Mozart piano concertos played on the fortepiano. Following this fascination with Baroque and early Classical music, the pianist went on to study with Rebecca Penneys at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York; he is now based in London. Bezuidenhout plays both restored original instruments and replicas, favouring those built by historical instrument specialist Paul McNulty. Bezuidenhout's discography includes several complete cycles—including Mozart's keyboard music, Beethoven's piano concertos (with regular collaborators the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) and Bach’s Violin Sonatas with Isabelle Faust. On his recording of Schubert's Winterreise (2018) with tenor Mark Padmore, Bezuidenhout plays a magnificent original c.1827 Conrad Graf fortepiano from the Edwin Beunk collection.