Article

Frans Brouw

Published Online July 8, 2007

Last Edited December 15, 2013

(Florent Robert) Frans Brouw. Pianist, teacher, b Furnes, Belgium, 31 Jan 1929, naturalized Canadian 1975; premier prix piano (Brussels Royal Cons) 1948, diplôme de virtuosité (Brussels Royal Cons) 1951. He studied piano with Marcel Maas and Jenny Solheid 1946-52 at the Brussels Royal Cons.

Brouw, Frans

(Florent Robert) Frans Brouw. Pianist, teacher, b Furnes, Belgium, 31 Jan 1929, naturalized Canadian 1975; premier prix piano (Brussels Royal Cons) 1948, diplôme de virtuosité (Brussels Royal Cons) 1951. He studied piano with Marcel Maas and Jenny Solheid 1946-52 at the Brussels Royal Cons. A prize-winner in the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Belgium in 1952, he made his debut that same year performing Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 with the Orchestre national de Belgique.

Following this debut, Brouw gave some 60 concerts a season, many in Europe, but also in Africa, the USA, and the USSR. He was heard in Canada for the first time in 1953 during a JMC tour. He won a Harriet Cohen Award (London) in 1957. In December 1959 he appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York. He taught piano 1962-4 at the Ghent Royal Cons, and then settled in Quebec City. He began teaching at Laval University in 1964. Brouw has toured Canada and the USA a number of times and has performed frequently for CBC radio and TV, broadcasting from Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. He recorded a Concerto for piano and orchestra by Raymond Chevreuille for Decca (BA-143210) in 1956.