2023 Artist-in-Residence for the Festivals de Wallonie, the Swiss pianist and composer Beatrice Berrut has been described by *The Irish Times* as ’an artist who quietly reveals herself through multiple layers of genius and beauty« and by the *Cleveland Plain Dealer* as »a remarkable musician in every respect, who has given electrifying performances of works by Chopin and Bach«. Drawing inspiration from Mahler’s statement that »tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of the fire«, she wrote a paraphrase of Arnold Schoenberg’s major work, *Verklärte Nacht*, which was praised by the composer’s son and is now highly sought after by the piano community. Her work as a soloist, composer, arranger and artistic director of the festival she founded in Switzerland, »Les Ondes«, has established her as a dynamic figure on the European arts scene.
Her adventures have taken her as a soloist on major European stages with orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra on a Mozart tour, stopping off at, amongst other places, the Cadogan Hall, London and at the Victoria Hall, Geneva, and to perform at concerts sold out broadcast live on German radio station NDR from the Hannover Staatsoper, featuring the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester conducted by the legendary conductor Mario Venzago, or even to give recitals featuring his transcriptions of Mahler’s symphonies in prestigious venues such as the Vienna Konzerthaus or the Wigmore Hall, London.
His ability to transform Mahler’s colossal orchestral works into rich and lush piano arrangements is highly regarded by his peers and the press alike, as evidenced by these lines from the newspaper Le Monde : «His interpretation of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies involves transforming the orchestra’s solid gold into the piano’s liquid gold.». His upcoming engagements His work as a soloist includes concertos with the Copenhagen Phil as well as with the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra.
His recordings draw inspiration from the traditions of European spirituality and mysticism and explore the vast landscape of music by composers such as Bach and Liszt. His award-winning discography and his new collaboration with the French record label La Dolce Volta have a strong media presence and have played a major part in establishing her as a leading figure in the European arts scene, enabling her to be invited to give interviews and appear on television programmes such as Deutsche Welle’s news programme, TV5 Monde’s cultural programme, the Victoires de la Musique, RTS, Classic FM or ARTE.
Convinced that there is only good and bad music, Beatrice is at home in a variety of compositional genres and has been commissioned to write works for classical music concerts as well as for films. Her music is rooted in the European tradition – with a distinctive touch of Ravel and colours reminiscent of Scriabin in their diabolical virtuosity – and blends with the ethereal influences of American minimalism and the heroic rhetoric of film music. Her love of music has also led her to rework songs by MUSE and classics from Walt Disney to make them sound like virtuoso piano pieces by Romantic composers such as Rachmaninov, Chopin or Liszt. As Mark Twain might have said: «They didn’t know it was impossible, so they did it!». His works are published by the Japanese publisher Muse Press and his upcoming engagements include a composer’s residency as part of the season of the Wernigerode Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra in Germany, as well as’a residency at the Tours Opera House in France.
Both an iconoclast and a passionate champion of classical tradition, Beatrice’s desire to make classical music more accessible and to break down the barriers between genres led her to create its own festival, the Ondes Festival, in Monthey, where traditional classical music concerts are held alongside klezmer, jazz and rock.
She collaborates with artists from other fields, such as the world figure skating champion Stéphane Lambiel for an upcoming show on the theme of magic, which will explore a child’s journey of discovery, or with the contemporary dance company Cocoon Dance based in Bonn for a performance centred on the Trio Ghosts by Beethoven at the Beethovenfest. She was chosen by the University of Geneva Observatory and the European Space Agency (ESA) to play herself in a short film showcasing the GAIA mission, in which parallels are drawn between the work of a concert pianist and that of an astrophysicist.
Beatrice Berrut has been a Bösendorfer artist since 2013. This long and fruitful collaboration between the Viennese label and the Swiss pianist is what gives Beatrice’s recordings their slightly different sound.
After Art Nouveau, his debut album for La Dolce Volta, Beatrice Berrut concocts Abracadabra!, a programme that is by turns flamboyant and poetic, released in January 2025.
Eva Zavaro’s recording of the Sonata for violin and piano by Oskar C. Posa, published in September 2025, was a huge international critical success: Choc de Classica, 4T of Télérama, Record of the Year for Alex Ross (The New Yorker), Selection Le Monde, Golden Key of the Year ResMusica, Album of the Month Scherzo, Limelight Editor’s Choice.