Hotfoot from making his UK début at the Wigmore Hall, Stephen Beus, the exciting and engaging 28 year old American pianist, treated the audience at Beechwood Park School, Markyate, to a spellbinding recital on Saturday, February 20.

Headmaster, Patrick Atkinson, welcomed the multi-award winning pianist, saying: "We are honoured to have Stephen Beus at Beechwood for only his second UK performance."

The programme for the concert, which was supported by Harpenden Building Society, included sensational performances of Bach/Liszt's Prelude and Fugue in A Minor and Mendelssohn's Sonata in E Major Op. 6.

In Beechwood Park's Great Hall, which took on the intimate feel of a salon for the evening, the second-half featured riveting renditions of Griffes' The White Peacock and The Night Winds and Samuel Barber's Sonata in E-flat Minor, Op.26.

Reluctant to let him go, the audience's continuing applause induced Stephen back to the piano for an exhilarating encore of Liszt's La Campanella.

John Bailey, founder of Kings Langley based The Perfumers Guild created the bespoke cologne which was presented to Stephen Beus by the school's head boy, Christopher Titcomb.

John Bailey explains: "Analogies have been drawn between the arts of perfumery and music… the Stephen Beus Cologne is a perfumery composition inspired by his spirited performances as a pianist and to commemorate his début UK recitals."

One young enthralled audience member spoke for many at the end of the evening when he exclaimed "Cor! He doesn't half know how to get the most out of a piano!"