András Schiff

Award-winning Hungarian-born Austro-British pianist and conductor András Schiff was born on 21 December 1953 in Budapest to two Holocaust survivors. He studied piano from the age of five at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Of his teachers there, Ferenc Rados was particularly influential. He also studied with Tatiana Nikolayeva and Bella Davidovich at summer courses in Weimar, and went on to study with George Malcolm in London.

He left Hungary in 1979 and took Austrian citizenship in 1987.

He has become a renowned interpreter of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Schumann, and records for Decca and for ECM New Series.

He is a visiting professor at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's first artist-in-residence.

In addition to his musical activities, he is publically critical of the Hungarian and Austrian political movements.

 

A selection of articles about András Schiff

CD Spotlight. Awakening the Joy for Life - Béla Hartmann is impressed by music for clarinet and piano by Brahms and Widmann played by Jörg Widmann and András Schiff. 'In every respect this is a superb CD, combining playing of the highest craft and musical understanding with great works of the past, as well as new contributions which are likely to become established regulars in the modern piano repertoire.'

Classical music news. Brahms and Schumann - András Schiff joins the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for a series of concerts

Ensemble. First 'Last Sonatas' - The first of three András Schiff recitals at London's Wigmore Hall whets Malcolm Miller's appetite

Ensemble. Exquisite Music-making - Miklós Perényi and András Schiff at London's Wigmore Hall, heard by Malcolm Miller

Ensemble. Peak Form - Mike Wheeler finds Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra a joy to hear

'Bach the European' - Malcolm Miller attends András Schiff's 2007 RAM Bach Prize Lecture-Recital

CD Spotlight. Unassuming virtuosity - András Schiff plays Bach's 'Goldberg Variations', enjoyed by Patric Standford. '... impressive and enviable effortlessness ...'

CD Spotlight. Appropriate ardency - Juliane Banse and András Schiff perform songs by Debussy and Mozart, reviewed by John Bell Young. '... a smart and authoritative singer ...'