Joep Beving

Joep Beving—whose given name is pronounced “yoop”—works as a pianist and composer from his base in Amsterdam and describes his output as straightforward music written for intricate feelings. The lean, exposed quality of these pieces forms a striking opposition to his imposing stature, measuring 6'10" and featuring very long hair together with a beard. His pieces remain lean, direct, and typically free of extra decoration. Adopting a pop mindset toward both writing and playing has led observers to label his catalog neo-classical or classical crossover. Released in 2018, Conatus presented entirely re-imagined rather than remixed versions of earlier compositions, performed by Suzanne Ciani, Thomas Bloch, and Andrea Belfi among additional artists. He has also composed and produced a large catalog of music for television, film, and commercials.

He assembled his first band at age 14 and made his initial concert appearance at the jazz festival in his hometown of Doetinchem. After finishing school he hesitated between pursuing music and entering government service. A wrist injury ended his piano training at the Conservatoire, prompting him to complete an economics degree instead, yet music continued to occupy his thoughts and emotions. He reconciled the two directions by beginning his professional career as a copywriter in advertising while joining Amsterdam-based MassiveMusic in 2003, where he served as head of business development and strategy and created music for client brands. In his free time he played keyboards with the successful Dutch nu-jazz group the Scallymatic Orchestra and the “electrosoulhopjazz collective” Moody Allen, and he also experimented with electronica production under the solo project I Are Giant.

While attending the 2008 Lions Festival in Cannes—the advertising industry’s equivalent of the Oscars—he performed one of his own compositions on the hotel’s grand piano, prompting listeners to weep. In a later interview he recalled, “It was the first time I had seen the emotional effect my music could have on an audience.” The experience prompted a complete return to the acoustic piano. Heartened by the reaction in Cannes, he hosted a private dinner at his Amsterdam home in 2009 and performed for friends on a piano inherited from his late grandmother: “It was the first time my friends had heard me play music they thought should travel outside my living room. It was the push to pursue the dream of doing a solo album with just my instrument.” He continued writing and captured the new material in single takes across three months inside his kitchen, playing only after his girlfriend and daughters had gone to sleep.

When the sole label he contacted declined the project, Beving pressed the album himself. He established his own imprint, Sonderling B.V., and issued 1,500 vinyl copies of his debut classical album, Solipsism, in 2015, consisting solely of the home-recorded pieces. The release event took place at the studio of Amsterdam fashion designer Hans Ubbink, where he performed the album live in full for the first time. The limited pressing sold out rapidly; once the tracks reached streaming platforms, Solipsism accumulated roughly 60 million streams and attracted a million followers to his artist profile. The online attention led to an invitation to appear on a prime-time Dutch television program. The next day the album displaced One Direction from the top of the charts. Several concert promoters soon approached him, among them an offer for a solo recital at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. A friend later played the album in a Berlin bar “at 2 a.m. with everyone smoking and drinking Moscow mules,” where Deutsche Grammophon executive Christian Badzura happened to be present. After initial online contact they met when Beving performed at Berlin’s Christophori Piano Salon, and the evening concluded with his signing to the classical label.

His first release for Deutsche Grammophon, the 2017 album Prehension, extended the musical and philosophical ideas already present in Solipsism. In his own words: “I am reacting to the absolute grotesqueness of the things that are happening around us, in which you feel so insignificant and powerless that you alienate yourself from reality and the people around you because it is so impossible to grasp. I just write what I think is beautiful, leaving out a lot of notes, telling a story through my instrument, trying to unite us with something simple, honest, and beautiful.” While preparing material for a third album, Badzura proposed issuing a remix collection as an interim release. After discussion the two concluded that reinterpretation rather than remixing better suited the concept. Issued in September 2018, Conatus therefore contained reworked pieces by artists including Ciani, Belfi, and Bloch as well as CFCF, Cello Octet Amsterdam, Colin Benders, and Tom Trago. The set also introduced “Prelude,” a new composition later featured on the 2018 album Conatus.