Described by the Fort Worth Star Telegram as a pianist of “artistic instinct and natural charisma,” Stephen Beus is recognized as one of the most promising pianists of his generation. In the space of four months, Mr. Beus won first prize in the 2006 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, first place in the Vendome Prize International Competition (Lisbon) and he was awarded the Max I. Allen Fellowship of the American Pianists Association (Indianapolis).
His 2006-2007 season includes appearances with the Utah, Tucson, Jacksonville and Walla Walla Symphonies, as well as with the Bellevue Philharmonic. Solo appearances include performances for the Animato Series (Paris), Myra Hess and Fazioli Salon series (both in Chicago), and recitals in Hamburg, Moscow, Sintra (Portugal), Reynosa (Mexico) Seattle, Everett (WA), Tucson, Indianapolis, Knoxville (TN), Duluth (MN), Georgetown Lake (MT), Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Washington D.C. at the Phillips Collection.
Among the competitions Mr. Beus has won are the Junior Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition (age 14) and the pre-college division of the Corpus Christi International Young Artists Competition (age 15). At age 17 he was the national high school winner of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) and won the collegiate level of the same competition four years later, for which he received a Steinway Model M. In 2004 Mr. Beus came in first at the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition and subsequently performed in Carnegie Hall. He has recorded on the Endeavor Classics Label and will release a CD on the Harmonia Mundi label in the Spring of 2007.
The fourth of eight children, Mr. Beus was born and raised in Othello, WA and started lessons at age five. Four years later he made his orchestral debut playing Mozart’s Concerto K. 488. Mr. Beus holds degrees from Whitman College and The Juilliard School where his teachers have included Leonard Richter and Robert McDonald.
Program subject to change