Jozef De Beenhouwer 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.
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.
Jozef De Beenhouwer has made innumerable radio and television recordings at home and abroad, as well as a number of LPs and CDs. Among the latter there are some twenty-five on the Belgian Phaedra label, including recordings of Brahms, of Schumann and of Belgian composers. Twice he was awarded the Cecilia Prize, in 1984 for his recording of piano works by Peter Benoit, and in 1986 for his recording of piano works by Joseph Ryelandt. In 1986 Jozef De Beenhouwer gave the first performance of Robert Schumann’s Concertsatz (1839) with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and in 1992, that of a concert movement Clara Schumann wrote in 1847, both unfinished works which he completed himself and which were published by Breitkopf & Hartel. In 1991 he made the first complete recording, on 3 CDs (now available on CPO, Germany), of the piano works of Clara Schumann. For his outstanding efforts on behalf of the works of Robert and Clara Schumann he was awarded the prestigious Robert Schumann Prize of the city of Zwickau in 1993.
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.
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.