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 9^th 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