Pianist
Alasdair Beatson has a wide range that includes solo recitals, concerto performances, and chamber music. He champions contemporary music, and he often mixes familiar and rarely heard material in his concerts and recordings.
Beatson was born on March 30, 1980, in Perth, Scotland. He had lessons there as a youth with Claire Gallagher. When he was 18, he moved to London, enrolling at the Royal College of Music for studies with
John Blakely, and he moved on to Indiana University, where his teacher was
Menahem Pressler. Several prizes garnered attention for the young
Beatson, including the Making Music Award for Young Concert Artists and second prize at the Shanghai International Piano Competition.
Beatson has played concertos with the
Britten Sinfonia, the
Moscow Virtuosi, and the
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, among other groups. As a recitalist, he has appeared several times at London's Wigmore Hall, including during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-2021. His chamber music collaborators are a varied group, including cellist
Pieter Wispelwey, violinist
Pekka Kuusisto, and the
Doric String Quartet.
Beatson has worked extensively with contemporary composers, performing new works by
Harrison Birtwistle,
Heinz Holliger, and
Helena Winkelman, among others. He has taught summer courses and given master classes at British universities, including the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and the Birmingham Conservatoire at Birmingham City University.
Beatson is the founder and artistic director of the French chamber music festival Musique à Marsac.
Beatson's recording career began in 2009 with a recital of music by
Schumann, Grieg, Brahms, and Berg on the Somm label. He has also recorded for Champs Hill, Claves, and BIS, where in 2021, he issued an album of
Beethoven violin sonatas with violinist
Viktoria Mullova. That year also saw the release of
Beatson's solo album
Aus Wien on the PentaTone Classics label.