Rachel Podger & Kristian Bezuidenhout
Biography Rachel Podger & Kristian Bezuidenhout
Rachel Podger
“the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin” (The Times), has established herself as a leading interpreter of the Baroque and Classical music periods. She was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Prize in October 2015, Gramophone Artist of the Year 2018, and Ambassador for REMA’s Early Music Day 2020. A creative programmer, she is the founder and Artistic Director of Brecon Baroque Festival and her ensemble Brecon Baroque. Rachel is Patron for the Continuo Foundation.
Following an exciting and innovative new collaboration, A Guardian Angel, with the ‘impeccable’ (Gramophone) vocal ensemble VOCES8, Rachel was thrilled to be one of the Artists in Residence at the renowned Wigmore Hall throughout the 2019/2020 season. The series features Rachel in all-Bach performances as a soloist and with Brecon Baroque. Alongside this, Rachel and Christopher Glynn recorded the world premiere of three previously unfinished Mozart sonatas which were completed by Royal Academy of Music Professor Timothy Jones for release in March 2021.
Rachel featured in The VOCES8 Foundation’s LIVE From London festival in a new advent version of A Guardian Angel. She performed solo Bach for Gramophone Magazine’s Winners’ Digital Gala, appeared in Bitesize Proms, BOZAR at Home, Living Room Live, Baroque at the Edge, and a collaborative disc by Musicians For Musicians Many Voices on a Theme of Isolation. Rachel presented BBC Radio 3’s Inside Music and directed a new arrangement by Chad Kelly, The Goldberg Variations Reimagined. Upcoming engagements include recording a selection of Beethoven sonatas and performances of Mozart and Beethoven with Christopher Glynn, a return to Philharmonia Baroque and San Francisco Early Music, a Four Seasons collaboration with Academy of Ancient Music, and further performances of Bach Cello Suites, The Goldberg Variations Reimagined, and A Guardian Angel.
Rachel is a dedicated educator and holds an honorary position at both the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She also has a relationship with The Juilliard School in New York.
Kristian Bezuidenhout
is one of today’s most notable and exciting keyboard artists, equally at home on the fortepiano, harpsichord, and modern piano. Born in South Africa in 1979, he began his studies in Australia, completed them at the Eastman School of Music, and now lives in London. After initial training as a pianist with Rebecca Penneys, he explored early keyboards, studying harpsichord with Arthur Haas, fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson, and continuo playing and performance practice with Paul O’Dette. Kristian first gained international recognition at the age of 21 after winning the prestigious first prize, and audience prize in the Bruges Fortepiano Competition.
Kristian is a regular guest with the world’s leading ensembles including the Freiburger Barockorchester, Les Arts Florissants, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestre des Champs Elysées, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Chicago Symphony Orchestra & the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; and has guest-directed (from the keyboard) the English Concert, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Tafelmusik, Collegium Vocale, Juilliard 415 and the Kammerakademie Potsdam, & Dunedin Consort (Bach St. Matthew Passion).
He has performed with celebrated artists including John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Bernhard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Frans Brüggen, Trevor Pinnock, Giovanni Antonini, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Isabelle Faust, Alina Ibragimova, Rachel Podger, Carolyn Sampson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Mark Padmore & Matthias Goerne.
Kristian’s rich and award-winning discography on Harmonia Mundi includes the complete keyboard music of Mozart (Diapason d’Or de L’année, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, & Caecilia Prize); the complete Piano Concertos of Beethoven with the Freiburger Barockorchester; Bach Violin Sonatas w. Isabelle Faust; Mozart Violin Sonatas with Petra Müllejans; Mendelssohn and Mozart Piano Concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester (ECHO Klassik); Beethoven, & Mozart Lieder, and Schumann Dichterliebe with Mark Padmore (Edison Award). In 2013 he was nominated as Gramophone Magazine’s Artist of the Year. Upcoming releases include two discs of Mozart Piano Concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester to be recorded in May 2021.
In the 20/21 season, Kristian appears as a soloist with Essener Philharmoniker/Richard Egarr, Les Arts Florissants/William Christie, Kammerorchester Basel/Giovanni Antonini, Orchestre National de France/Emmanuel Krivine and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Klaus Makela. His play-direct visits include Concerto Copenhagen, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Freiburger Barockorchester and English Concert. Kristian gives solo recitals, continues his close recital partnership with Anne Sofie von Otter and new collaborations with Voces 8 and Niek Baar.
