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In the early days of his career, Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) was especially known in Vienna as a pianist and improviser. His whole life the piano would remain his faithful com- panion. In fact, it was his innate intimacy with the piano that would set him back on track not only while dealing with per- sonal and artistic crises but also during the process of discovering his most innovative compositional techniques. Apart from a series of variations, piano concertos and chamber music, Beethoven’s oeuvre for piano solo consists of no less than 32 piano sonatas, developed over a 30 year time span.

The Belgian pianist Stephanie Proot (°1987) studied at the ‘Royal Music Conservatory of Antwerp’ with Levente Kende. In addition, she pursued the ‘Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste’ at the ‘Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot’ in Paris with Ramzi Yassa and took further classes at the ‘Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel’ in Waterloo (Belgium) with Abdel Rahman El Bacha. She completed her education with master classes by renowned teachers Jan Wijn, Alfred Brendel, Leon Fleischer and Dmitri Bashkirov. She has performed as a soloist she was awarded the ‘Favorite’s Prize’ in at many prestigious venues both in Belgium the ‘International Telekom Beethoven and abroad, together with the Brussels Philharmonic, L’Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Porto International Orchestra and the Zagreb Radio Orchestra alongside such great musicians as Augustin Dumay, Alain Paris and Theodor Guschlbauer. Stephanie's excellent competition results secure her place in the international concert scene. Her list of awards include the Benelux Yamaha Scholarship, the sixth prize in the '5th Shangai International Piano Competition', the second prize in the 'International Piano Competition of the City of Porto' and the first prize in the 'Rencontre Internationale de Piano' in Le Mée-sur-Seine. In December 2011 she was awarded the 'Favorite's Prize' in the 'International Telekom Beethoven competition Bonn' by the public.