Dutch Music Prize for pianist Thomas Beijer (33)

Pianist Thomas Beijer (33) has been awarded the Netherlands Music Prize. This was announced by the Performing Arts Fund on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science on Tuesday. Beijer will be awarded the prize on 17 February by State Secretary for Culture and Media Gunay Uslu after a concert with the Noord Nederlands Orkest conducted by future chief Eivind Gullberg Jensen in De Oosterpoort in Groningen. Beijer will perform there as a soloist in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major.

Also read the interview Pianist, composer, writer: Thomas Beijer is it all (2019)

The Netherlands Music Prize is the highest state award for classical musicians. Candidates for the prize follow a study path in which personal musical development is central. At the end of the process, a committee will advise whether the prize can be awarded. The procedure made the news in November 2021 when De Volkskrant announced that cellist Ella van Poucke would not receive the prize despite international acclaim for her performance.

The committee of the Dutch Music Prize praises Beijer for his pianistic qualities and his versatility: he is also active as a composer, arranger, improviser, presenter, draftsman, animation filmer, writer and artistic director; “a ‘uomo universale’ of today”, according to the commission.

Previous prize-winning pianists have included Ronald Brautigam, Martijn van den Hoek and Hannes Minnaar.

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