Nicolas Callot

Biography

Nicolas Callot was born in 1979 in Antwerp, Belgium. At the age of eight he started studying the piano with Heidi Hendrickx and Levente Kende. In 2004 he graduated from the Conservatory of Amsterdam under the guidance of the Russian pianist Mila Baslawskaja. He also took lessons with Elisabeth Leonskaja, Jan Wijn, Malcolm Bilson and Philippe Herreweghe. Nicolas has participated in master classes with well-known teachers such as Georgy Kurtag, John Perry, Lazar Berman, Dmitri Bashkirov, Vitaly Margulis, Peter Feuchtwanger en Christopher Hogwood.

Nicolas Callot won numerous National Competitions and was a Laureate of the Brahms Competition in Austria. He has given numerous concerts in Europe and the U.S. and has performed with conductors like Philippe Herreweghe, Michael Schoenwandt, Frans Cuypers, Fernand Terby, Piet Swerts, Pierre Thimus, Ivo Venkov and Georges Octors.

He has regularly been a guest at the VRT (Flemish Radio and Television) and was invited to represent Belgium in the Eurovision Festival as soloist with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Schoenwandt.

He recorded a solo-piano CD for the label Phaedra, and two CD’s with his piano-duo partner Lucas Blondeel with works by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann on an historical fortepiano Conrad Graf (1826) for the Warner Classics label. www.callot-blondeel.be

In 2017 together with Bart Rodyns he founded duo Zeitspiel. They recorded an LP and CD with works for harmonium and piano by C. Franck 2018. In 2019 they released a live recording together with soprano Griet de Geyter for the label Warner/Klara. https://www.facebook.com/ZEITSPIELklavierduo/

Besides the modern piano he also performs on historical instruments and was guided by Malcolm Bilson. He has a beatiful collection at his disposal that he uses for concerts and recordings. He strongly believes that the analytical and rhetorical aspect of the historical approach must find its place in modern piano playing and wants to play a role in bringing these two worlds closer together.

As a lied-accompanist he works regularly with Hendrickje Van Kerckhove.They made a recording with lieder and piano-solo works by Grieg for the label Phaedra (2017).

Nicolas Callot teaches piano (Main Subject) and chamber-music at the Fontys Conservatorium Tilburg (the Netherlands) and at the Kunsthumaniora in Antwerp (Belgium). He also teaches chamber-music at the young-conservatory Antwerp. He was assistant teacher of Mila Baslawskaja at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Besides his career as a pianist and teacher, he also works as a recording engineer and supervisor for different labels. www.nicolascallot.be