Daniel-Ben Pienaar has garnered an international reputation for his unusual pianism and musicianship. He has a particular interest in early music, Bach, the Viennese classics and early Romantics, and is especially noted for his substantial discography. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, and currently its Curzon Lecturer in Performance Studies. He is a Professor of the University of London and an Extraordinary Professor at the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.  

Born in South Africa, he came to public notice there at the age of fourteen, performing Liszt’s First Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ with the country’s most prominent orchestras. He moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. During his time as a student the lively debates around early music and the rapid changes in the recording industry and recording technology made a deep impact. Graduating in 1997, he received the prestigious Queen’s Commendation. ​ 

Upon completing his formal training he set out on a programme of self-imposed study and reading, eschewing the competition circuit entirely, and making the decision to dedicate himself exclusively to the recital repertoire. In 1999 he first played the set of Six Partitas by Bach in one concert; 2000 saw his first Mozart Piano Sonata cycle. Since then he has variously given complete performances of a number of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin cycles or groups of works, in addition to a representative selection of, mostly, 19th-century works.