Five Volumes of ‘Beethoven/Scharwenka: Complete Symphonies’ Released

Pianists Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman have now released the first five volumes of six compact discs under the SOMM Recordings Label in London. These recordings encompass the complete Symphonies by Beethoven transcribed for piano duet by Xaver Scharwenka. The recordings have received wonderful reviews. Please click below to see what reviewers have been saying. To purchase the recordings on CD, please click here.

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Concert Calendar 2024

January 2024

31 JAN Piano Duo Recital
Lansdowne Club, London
Ben Schoeman and Tessa Uys start the bicentenary celebrations of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Op. 125 (first performed on 7th May 1824). The duo performs this masterpiece in a piano duet arrangement by piano virtuoso and pedagogue Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924).

February 2024

3 FEB Piano Duo Recital
Farnham, Surrey
Ben Schoeman and Tessa Uys perform a piano duet programme including works by Schubert and the 9th Symphony by Beethoven.
18 FEB Beethoven 9th Symphony
St Mary’s Perivale
The bicentenary celebrations of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Op. 125 (first performed on 7th May 1824): The piano duo of Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman presents this masterpiece in a piano duet arrangement by piano virtuoso and pedagogue Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924).

March 2024

30 MAR Piano Duo Recital
Maxability Concert Series, Southgate, London
Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman perform Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor and Lebensstürme for Piano Duet, alongside Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony arranged by FX Scharwenka.

April 2024

21 APR Piano Duo Recital
Farnham, Surrey
Duo pianists Ben Schoeman and Tessa Uys perform the 1st and 3rd (Eroica) symphonies by Beethoven at the Bach Society Concert Series in Farnham.
27 APR Ben Schoeman Piano Recital
Buscot Park
Ben Schoeman gives a piano recital at the beautiful theatre of Buscot Park Manor in Oxfordshire (National Trust). He will perform a programme that includes the Appassionata Sonata by Beethoven, the Sonata in B minor by Liszt as well as music by Gabriel Fauré (centenary of his passing in 1924).

May 2024

5 MAY Cello and Piano Duo Recital
Libertas, Devon
French cellist David Pinoit joins pianist Ben Schoeman for an exciting recital in a beautiful part of Devon, Bucklands-tout-saints:

  • Beethoven – Cello Sonata no. 4 in C major, Op. 102/1
  • Fauré – Three works for Cello and Piano
  • Saint-Saëns – Sonata no. 1 in C minor for Cello and Piano
  • Nadia Boulanger – Three Pieces for Cello and Piano
  • Rachmaninoff – Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 19
7 MAY The Bicentenary of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
St Lawrence Jewry, City of London
The bicentenary celebrations of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Op. 125 (first performed on 7th May 1824): The piano duo of Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman presents this masterpiece in a piano duet arrangement by piano virtuoso and pedagogue Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924). This concert takes place in the Christopher Wren church, St Lawrence Jewry in the City of London. Uys and Schoeman began their journey with all the Scharwenka arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies at this venue in 2015.
12 MAY Beethoven Duo Recital
Cheffings, Devon
20 MAY Flowers and Gardens – Recital
Royal Over-Seas League
Ben Schoeman and Tessa Uys perform the Pastoral Symphony no. 6 (Beethoven Scharwenka) and solo works by Rachmaninoff, Schumann, MacDowell, Debussy and Grainger for a delegation of the Chelsea Flower Show, London.
23 MAY Piano Masterclasses (alongside a performance of Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto, Op 102)
Westminster Under School, London
30 MAY Piano Duo Recital (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony)
New Club Edinburgh

June 2024

20 JUN Ben Schoeman plays Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra
27 JUN Ben Schoeman plays Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra

JULY 2024

28 JUL Ben Schoeman plays a Piano Recital
Northwards House, Johannesburg

  • Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
    Keyboard Partita no. 4 in D major, BWV 828
  • Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
    Sonata no. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”)
  • Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
    Nocturne no. 6 in D flat major, Op. 63
  • Jeanne Zaidel Rudolph (b. 1948)
    Ebb and Flow (2019)
  • Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
    Sonata in B minor, S. 178

AUGUST 2024

1 AUG Flute and Piano Recital – Dawid Venter and Ben Schoeman Celebrating Gabriel Fauré (1924)
Musaion, University of Pretoria

SEPTEMBER 2024

9 SEP Blackheath Piano Duo Recital (Schubert)
London

OCTOBER 2024

6 OCT Ben Schoeman – Piano Recital at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa (and Masterclasses)
University Way, Summerstrand, Gqeberha
24 OCT Ben Schoeman performs with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra – Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto no. 4

NOVEMBER 2024

10 & 11 NOV Piano Recital and Piano Masterclasses
Stonevale, Oxfordshire & Abingdon School
17 NOV Piano Duo Recital
Farnham, Surrey
Duo pianists Ben Schoeman and Tessa Uys perform the 5th and 6th (Pastoral) Symphonies by Beethoven/Scharwenka at the Bach Society Concert Series in Farnham.
29 NOV Ben Schoeman and Tessa Uys
Private Members’ Club in London
The bicentenary celebrations of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Op. 125 (first performed on 7th May 1824): The piano duo of Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman presents this masterpiece in a piano duet arrangement by piano virtuoso and pedagogue Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924).

DECEMBER 2024

4 DEC Piano Duo Recital (Beethoven’s 7th Symphony and Music by Schubert)
Reform Club, London
7 DEC Recital at Arundell’s in the UK – Ben Schoeman and Tessa Uys
Doors open 18.30, music begins 19.00 | Arundells, 59 Cathedral Close, Salisbury
Tickets: £30.00 to include a glass of bubbles
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (arr. Scharwenka) – Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman announces the forthcoming release of their Volume 6 (February 2025) with SOMM Recordings. Click here to visit the Arundells website
11 DEC Piano Duo Recital
St Olave’s in London
Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman play music for piano four hands by Beethoven (Pastoral Symphony) and Elgar (Introduction and Allegro). See more information here.

Concert Calendar & Highlights 2025

January 2025

19 JAN | 13:00 Recital
Brantwood, Lake District
24 JAN | 13:00 Gustav Holst 150th Anniversary – Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman perform The Planets
Music at Hill – Holy Sepulchre EC1A 2DQ London (Holborn Viaduct)
See more information here.

February 2025

27 FEB | 7:30pm Final Volume 6 release with SOMM Recordings, Beethoven/Scharwenka Symphony no. 9 Op. 125 with Ben Schoeman and Tessa Uys, Piano Duo
22 Mansfield Street, London

March 2025

20 MAR Beethoven Triple Concerto with Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra

April 2025

6 APR Duo Recital with Tessa Uys at Farnham, Tilford Bach Society
26 APR Recital at Buscot Park, Oxfordshire

July 2025

Mzansi Ballet in Lugano, Switzerland

September 2025

Ravel Piano Concerto in G (Ravel 150th Anniversary) with the Free State Symphony Orchestra and conductor Gerard Korsten
21 SEP Recital at Northwards House, Johannesburg, Mzansi Chamber Music Collective