Otis Beasley is a British–Irish pianist based in Cologne.

Currently in the final stage of his PhD at the Royal Academy of Music, his research centres on verbal markings in Chopin's music — that is, indications given with words rather than signs. While based in London, he was a visiting music teacher at St Paul's School, Winchester College and Trinity School (London's first 'All-Steinway School'); he also gave individual keyboard skills lessons at the Royal Academy of Music together with various lectures there for postgraduate pianists. He has performed works by Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt and Rachmaninoff with orchestras in the UK, Romania and Italy, and given solo recitals in Germany and Hungary. His playing of Chopin on an 1840s Pleyel piano was broadcast on the composer's birthday in connection with the BBC Arts Civilisations Festival.

 

He gained a scholarship at eleven to attend Wells Cathedral School as a specialist musician. Studying with John Byrne, he obtained his DipABRSM at sixteen with Distinction, and in his final year at Wells was a piano finalist of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition and was offered scholarships to the UK's four major music colleges. After joining the Royal College of Music as a Foundation Scholar, he toured the United Emirate States as a BBC Young Musician. During his time at the RCM, he studied with John Byrne, Ruth Nye and Gordon Fergus-Thompson. After graduating from the RCM with First-Class Honours, he performed Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto with the Finchley Chamber Orchestra in London as a result of winning the Hastings International Piano Concerto competition.

 

He completed an Intensive Masters in Performance and Research programme at the Royal Academy of Music with Distinction, during which time he studied with Ian Fountain, gave the UK premiere of Hans Abrahamsen's Traumlieder for piano trio and won the Harold Samuel Bach Prize. He has participated in masterclasses with musicians such as Kristian Bezuidenhout, Nikolai Demidenko, Sergei Dorensky, Andrzej Jasiński and Menahem Pressler. His doctoral research, partially supported by a scholarship from the Drake Calleja Trust, is supervised by Dr Sarah Callis.