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An Eastman keyboardist aims to capture the passion and romance of classical music as it sounded in the late 18th century.

Kristian Bezuidenhout ���Ĵ�ý�01E, ���Ĵ�ý�04E (MM) watched Amadeus, the 1984 semibiographical movie about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, when he was 10.

The ���Ĵ�ý�super lonely���Ĵ�ý� child, as Bezuidenhout describes himself at that age, was ���Ĵ�ý�completely bamboozled by how beautiful the music was���Ĵ�ý� and became obsessed both with the film and Mozart���Ĵ�ý�s compositions, which he felt gave him a way to escape his solitude.

���Ĵ�ý�Those feelings you have as a kid with music like that just never go away,���Ĵ�ý� he says from his home in London.

Today, Bezuidenhout is a leading period-instrument keyboard player, best known for his fortepiano interpretations of the complete keyboard music of Mozart (Harmonia Mundi record label). Earlier this year, he released his 25th album���Ĵ�ý�the last volume of the complete Beethoven Concertos (Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3) recorded with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.

A regular guest with the world���Ĵ�ý�s leading ensembles���Ĵ�ý�and with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Giovanni Antonini, and Daniel Harding���Ĵ�ý�Bezuidenhout was named Most Exciting Young Musician for the 2005���Ĵ�ý�06 season by the Dutch Federation of Music and Drama and earned a nomination in 2013 as Gramophone magazine���Ĵ�ý�s Artist of the Year.

During the 2017���Ĵ�ý�18 season he became an artistic director of the Freiburger Barockorchester and principal guest conductor with the English Concert.

Future projects include Bach Christmas Cantatas and Handel Dixit Dominus���Ĵ�ý�both with the Freiburger Barockorchester���Ĵ�ý� and the English Concert, featuring Purcell Odes and Handel Chandos.

In one music review, the New York Times wrote that Bezuidenhout���Ĵ�ý�s performance of keyboard works by Mozart demonstrated the ���Ĵ�ý�dazzling variety of colors he can draw from his instrument.���Ĵ�ý�

Bezuidenhout���Ĵ�ý�s repertoire extends beyond Mozart to works by Baroque and Romantic composers, including Purcell, Handel, and Bach, to the music of Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. But Mozart has remained a main focus for the Australian/South African pianist���Ĵ�ý�in part to interpret the prolific composer���Ĵ�ý�s works in new ways.

���Ĵ�ý�Every time I heard someone play his music, I was baffled by how terrified they sounded of doing the wrong thing,���Ĵ�ý� he says. ���Ĵ�ý�I was determined to find a way to bring out more passion, relaxation, and romance. And I could do that on these old pianos in a way that I just never could on a Steinway.

���Ĵ�ý�While there is a great deal to be learned from historical sources, an equally important aspect of my approach is based on ���Ĵ�ý�gut���Ĵ�ý� feelings; on the realization of sounds in my imagination,���Ĵ�ý� he adds. ���Ĵ�ý�It is a highly postmodern exercise in a sense���Ĵ�ý�deeply subjective and based on background and personal experience.���Ĵ�ý�

Bezuidenhout says the Eastman School of Music was instrumental in allowing him to develop that trial-and-error approach as an advanced keyboard student.

He remembers ���Ĵ�ý�a constellation of important people���Ĵ�ý� at Eastman who valued that process much more than a heavily structured curriculum.

���Ĵ�ý�It was this free, open environment where there was so much experimentation,���Ĵ�ý� he says. ���Ĵ�ý�They allowed me to be myself at a time when���Ĵ�ý�at least hypothetically���Ĵ�ý�other faculty might have tried to suppress these slightly fantastical tendencies.���Ĵ�ý�

Those tendencies included bouncing between the fortepiano, harpsichord, flute, and chamber music.

For example, Rebecca Penneys, a professor emerita of piano and Bezuidenhout���Ĵ�ý�s principal piano instructor, was ���Ĵ�ý�unbelievably open-minded.���Ĵ�ý� Meantime, Paul O���Ĵ�ý�Dette, a professor of lute, inspired him to use historical information to enliven and enrich music making. (Bezuidenhout became O���Ĵ�ý�Dette���Ĵ�ý�s assistant for several years). He also counts his work with Malcolm Bilson (fortepiano) and Arthur Hass (harpsichord) as deeply stimulating: ���Ĵ�ý�Both teachers instilled in me a newly found appreciation of the myriad possibilities offered by these instruments; they are both scrupulous stylists, too���Ĵ�ý�remarkable.���Ĵ�ý�

���Ĵ�ý�We were renegades in a way,���Ĵ�ý� he says of himself and his peers, ���Ĵ�ý�with the consent of our teachers.���Ĵ�ý�

That preference for unconventionality paid off. The year Bezuidenhout received his bachelor���Ĵ�ý�s degree, he recorded his first disc of Mozart, titled Sturm und Drang, and captured first prize at the prestigious Bruges Fortepiano Competition.

About 60 percent of Bezuidenhout���Ĵ�ý�s typical music season is solo work, which he finds the most demanding. When recently preparing to perform the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 for the first time, he spent between five and six hours a day for several weeks before he felt ready.

He also performs chamber music���Ĵ�ý�the accompaniment of vocal repertoire is a particular source of joy���Ĵ�ý�and collaborates with musicians such as tenor Mark Padmore, Carolyn Sampson, Anne Sofie von Otter, and Isabelle Faust.

���Ĵ�ý�It���Ĵ�ý�s a fantastic mix,���Ĵ�ý� he says. ���Ĵ�ý�I could never get bored because there���Ĵ�ý�s such constant variety in this field. I always wanted a career that would challenge me in many different directions.���Ĵ�ý�

For another challenge, Bezuidenhout is thinking about buying a harpsichord so that he can delve into the instrument more deeply. He���Ĵ�ý�s looking forward to several years of intense training and possible future recordings including the Bach Harpsichord Concertos (with single strings).

But it needs to be the right kind of training���Ĵ�ý�the kind he received generously at Eastman at a time when he was trying to build a child���Ĵ�ý�s dream into what would become a professional career.

���Ĵ�ý�It was an entire atmosphere of collective acceptance and flexibility,���Ĵ�ý� he says. ���Ĵ�ý�I had that in a complete sense from everyone I came across there.���Ĵ�ý�