Sharon Bezaly
Flute, Guest Artist
Described by The Times as “God’s Gift to the flute“, Swedish flautist Sharon Bezaly was chosen as ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ by the prestigious Klassik Echo in Germany in 2002 and ‘Young Artist of the Year’ at the Cannes Classical Awards in 2003. Classics Today has hailed her as “a flautist virtually without peer in the world today“ and International Record Review wrote “Her recordings and concert appearances are typically more than simply triumphs: they are defining artistic events“.
Having started to play the flute at the age of 11, Sharon Bezaly gave her début concert as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta when she was 14. She was invited by Sándor Végh to play as principal flautist in his Camerata Academica Salzburg, a position she held until his death in 1997. Since then, Sharon Bezaly has concentrated on expanding her solo career and is one of the rare full-time, international flute soloists.
Without neglecting the standard repertoire, Sharon Bezaly is committed to the music of our time and has inspired renowned composers as far-ranging as Sofia Gubaidulina, Kalevi Aho and Sally Beamish to write for her. To date Sharon has eighteen dedicated concertos which she performs around the world. Sharon has commented: “In recent years my sights have been turning towards a wider horizon and I hope that, by inspiring challenging composers to create new works, it could propel the flute further into the spotlight as well as provide standard repertoire for generations to come“.
Sharon Bezaly has an exclusive contract with the Swedish label BIS and her wide-ranging recordings - 27 CDs to date - have won her the highest accolade, including the Diapason d’or (Diapason), Choc du Monde de la Musique (Monde de la Musique), Editor’s Choice (Gramophone), CD of the Month (BBC Music Magazine), Stern des Monats (FonoForum), Recommandé (Répertoire) and Recomendado (CD Compact).
Sharon plays on a 24-carat gold flute, especially built for her by the Muramatsu team, Japan. Her perfect control of circular breathing liberates her from the limitations of the flute as a wind instrument, enabling her to reach new peaks of musical interpretation, presenting an extended spectrum of colours and emotions. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has compared her to David Oistrakh and Vladimir Horowitz.