A winner of the Young Pianist Foundation National Piano Competition at the age of eighteen, Thomas Beijer was recognized early on as one of the most prominent and interesting musicians in his home country. The international jury characterized him as 'an extremely interesting musical personality, with distinctive ideas about music. A true artist.'
Since then, Beijer has been invited for concerts in Europe, Asia and the United States. He has worked with orchestras such as The Residentie Orkest The Hague and Amsterdam Sinfonietta and with conductors such as Antony Hermus, Neeme Järvi, Gustavo Gimeno, Ed Spanjaard, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Bas Wiegers and Lucas Macías Navarro. He is a regular guest of Camerata RCO, the chamber orchestra and chamber music group consisting of members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In february 2022 Thomas received the Nederlandse Muziekprijs, the highest award for Dutch classical musicians, granted by The Performing Arts Fund on behalf of Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The jury calls Thomas Beijer an 'uomo universale’ and praises his excellent technique and his unique art of storytelling.
Thomas Beijer was the Spotlight-artist 22/23 of The Concertgebouw, making his solo debut in the Main Hall in the international ‘Great Pianists’ series. And he brought his chamber music partners to the Concertgebouw: Laetitia Gerards, Quirine Viersen, Nicolas van Poucke, Rob van de Laar, Barbara Kozelj and Mathieu van Bellen.
Highlights of the 2023-2024 season were a.o. his artist in residency at PHIL. in Haarlem, a concert tour with Phion and Pascal Rophé, playing Beethoven no. 3, and his debut with Symphoniker Hamburg in de Laeiszhalle, playing De Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de Espanã. In the ZaterdagMatinee Series in the Concertgebouw, Beijer performed Rossini’s petite Messe Solennelle together with the Netherlands Radio Choir.
Beijer’s composition 'Bonfire with Wish Lantern and Rising Waltz', commissioned by Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, was premiered by this orchestra and conductor Kristiina Poska in January 2024. His newest work “Five Ink Drawings for String Quartet” has been premiered in November 2024 by the Meccore string quartet. 2025 will see premieres of a commission by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and an orchestration of 2 Stokkermans songs, made for the 750th anniversary of the City of Amsterdam. At the Mahler Festival, organised by the Concertgebouw in May 2025, Beijer will perform his own arrangement of the Second movement of Mahler’s 4th Symphony for solo piano.
Beijer made several CD's, with works by a.o. Albéniz, Falla, Granados, Mozart, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Rudolf Escher and Frank Martin, as well as his own compositions. His most recent CD, in collaboration with Camerata RCO, led by the Chinese conductor Yu Lu, features Poulenc's piano concerto Aubade. His new album with works of Scarlatti and Haydn will be released in the winter of 2022.
Born in The Netherlands in 1988, Thomas Beijer enrolled at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he studied with Jan Wijn. After graduating with the highest distinction, he continued his piano studies with the Cuban pianist Jorge Luis Prats. He also took masterclasses with a.o. Emanuel Ax, Menahem Pressler, Murray Perahia, Pascal Devoyon, Jacques Rouvier and Elza Kolodin. In addition to his piano studies, Mr. Beijer studied composition with a.o. Elmer Schönberger in Amsterdam and with Malcolm Singer in London.
Besides his career as a pianist and a composer, Beijer is a novelist, screenwriter and visual artist. In 2017 he made his debut as a novelist with Geen Jalapeños. Currently, he is working on a collection of music essays, which will be published in the fall of 2022.
Since 2019, Thomas Beijer has been artistic director of the Young Pianist Foundation.
