Sharon Bezaly
Flutist Sharon Bezaly is among the world's premier players of her instrument. With some 20 flute concertos written for her, as well as various solo and chamber works, she has an unusually strong commitment to contemporary music.
Bezaly was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 2, 1972. She did not take up the flute until age 11, but after that, she made rapid progress, appearing with the Israel Philharmonic under conductor Zubin Mehta at 14. She played for the superstar flutist of the day, Jean-Pierre Rampal, who advised her to move to France for further study. There, she worked with Maurice Bourgue, Raymond Guiot, Alain Marion, and Aurèle Nicolet, learning the difficult circular breathing technique from the latter. At the invitation of conductor Sandor Végh, she was engaged as principal flutist of the Camerata Academica Salzburg. Upon Végh's death in 1997, she decided to launch a solo career. Joining violinist Gidon Kremer's Kremerata Baltica ensemble for a time, she began to find solo performance opportunities as she was signed to the BIS label and issued her recording debut, The Israeli Connection, in 1998. Bezaly married BIS executive Robert von Bahr and took up residence in Sweden.
Becoming a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist for 2006-2008 marked a breakthrough in Bezaly's career, as did a stint as the first-ever wind player artist-in-residence with the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague. She has performed with many of the world's top orchestras, including the Minnesota Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, and all of the BBC orchestras. She has appeared at such major venues as Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York, where, in 2012, she gave the U.S. premiere of José Serebrier's Flute Concerto under the composer's baton. Bezaly has consistently included newly commissioned works in her concerts and on her recordings from composers, including Sofia Gubaidulina, Kalevi Aho, and Sally Beamish; those by Gubaidulina and Aho have entered the general flute repertory.
Bezaly has continued to record exclusively for BIS, amassing a catalog of some 40 albums by the early 2020s. Contemporary music is heavily represented among these, as are such novel releases as Across the Sea: Chinese-American Flute Concertos (2011). In 2020, her recording of Serebrier's Flute Concerto with Tango appeared as part of a Serebrier collection on BIS. Bezaly plays a 24-carat Muramatsu gold flute from Japan.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Mozart: Flute Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Andante in C Major / Rondo in D Major
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Aug 2005
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Flute Concertos / Rondo / Andante
Sharon Bezaly, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Feb 2008
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev / Schubert / Dutilleux / Jolivet: Works for Flute and Piano
Sharon Bezaly, Ronald Brautigam
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 28 Feb 2006
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Great Works for Flute & Orchestra
Classical - Released by BIS on 27 Aug 2013
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Chung, Yiu-Kwong: Whirling Dance / Flute Concerto / Ma, Shui-Long: Bamboo Flute Concerto
Classical - Released by BIS on 28 Apr 2009
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Takemitsu: String Around Autumn (A) / I Hear the Water Dreaming / A Way A Lone Ii
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Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Sep 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Synergy
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Classical - Released by BIS on 2 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bezaly, Sharon: Masterworks for Flute and Piano
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 25 May 2010
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bezaly: Solo Flute From A To Z, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by BIS on 30 Apr 2001
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Flute Recital: Bezaly, Sharon - Handel, G.F. / Bach, J.S. / Telemann, G.P. (Barocking Together)
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 19 Aug 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Kaddisch / Schulhoff: Flute Sonata / Braun: Apartment To Let
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 31 Aug 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Across the Sea - Chinese-American Flute Concertos
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Nov 2011
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Bezaly: Solo Flute From A To Z, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Apr 2003
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cafe Au Lait
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 1 Dec 2001
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck, Fauré & Prokofiev: Works for Flute & Piano
Sharon Bezaly, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 27 Oct 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bezaly, Sharon: French Delights
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 1 Jan 2007
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Durufle / Hahn / Weinberg / Nikolayeva: Chamber Music
Sharon Bezaly, Nobuko Imai, Ronald Brautigam
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 1 Dec 2003
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Dorati: Night Music
Sharon Bezaly, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Moshe Atzmon
Classical - Released by BIS on 30 Jun 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Flute Quartets
Sharon Bezaly, Salzburg Soloists
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 31 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Trombone Concertos
Christian Lindberg, Sharon Bezaly, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Apr 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo