Jozef De Beenhouwer (°1948) first trained as a pharmacist, but he has devoted himself entirely to music since his graduation. He started his musical studies at the age of five. From 1964 on he studied with the Belgian pianist Lode Backx—at first privately, later at the Chapelle Reine Elisabeth in Argenteuil (Brussels) (1971-74) and at the Antwerp Royal Flemish Conservatory. That granted him in 1975 its most advanced degree, the “Hoger Diploma”, summa cum laude, as well as the De Vries-Tolkowsky Prize; subsequently in 1977 he received the Annie Rutzky Prize. In the 1990s he studied privately with David Kimball in Florence, Italy. From 1983 to 2013 Jozef De Beenhouwer was a principal piano teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerpen. From 1990 through 2015 he was artistic director of the Brussels Lunchtime Concerts. He is regularly invited to sit in the juries of international piano competitions.
He has performed as a soloist both in recitals and in works with orchestra in most European countries, in South Korea and in the USA. He is also a renowned accompanist of Lieder, performing with famous singers such as Ria Bollen, Robert Holl, Werner Van Mechelen, Nina Stemme, Peter Gijsbertsen and Liesbeth Devos. Finally, he is active as a chamber musician, notably in the Robert Schumann Piano Trio, which he co-founded with the leader and the first cellist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. For ten years (1986–1996) Jozef De Beenhouwer was an official accompanist at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition for violin and singing. He was a regular guest of the Brahms Festival at Mürzzuschlag (Austria).
For his many years of dedication to music by Flemish composers, in 2010, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of Klara, the classical-music channel of the ‘Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep–VRT’; in March 2019, he was rewarded with the ‘Prijs Peter Benoit’ of the Peter Benoit Fund.