Sir András Schiff | |
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_(cropped).jpg) Schiff in Leipzig, 2016 | |
| Born | (1953-12-21)21 December 1953 (age 71) |
| Education | Franz Liszt Academy of Music University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | Yūko Shiokawa |
Sir András Schiff (Hungarian:[ˈɒndraːʃˈʃif]; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor. He has received numerous awards and honours, including theGrammy Award,Gramophone Award,Mozart Medal, andRoyal Academy of Music Bach Prize, and was appointedKnight Bachelor in the 2014 Queen'sBirthday Honours for services to music.
Schiff continues to travel widely to perform, although there are countries which he chooses not to visit because of their politics.
Schiff is a distinguished visiting professor of piano at theBarenboim–Said Akademie in Berlin,[1] and the firstartist-in-residence of theIsrael Philharmonic Orchestra.
Schiff was born inBudapest to aJewish family, as an only child.[2] He began piano lessons at age five, studying at theFranz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Elisabeth Vadász, then withPál Kadosa andFerenc Rados. Of Rados, Schiff said, "There was never a positive word from him. Everything was bad, horrible. But it instilled a healthy attitude, an element of doubt."[3] He also said that from Rados he learned "the main elements of piano playing, tone production, and self-control; how to listen to [oneself] and how to practise well, without wasting time, always musically, never mechanically."[4] Among his classmates were renowned concert pianistsZoltán Kocsis andDezső Ránki. Concurrently with his studies in Budapest, he also studied withTatiana Nikolayeva andBella Davidovich in summer courses at theHochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar.[5][6] He then studied in London withGeorge Malcolm, a pioneer in the use of period keyboard instruments; Schiff made a recording with Malcolm of four-hand music by Mozart using afortepiano that had once belonged to the composer. He also studied piano and chamber music withGyörgy Kurtág.[7]
Schiff was fourth prize winner of theTchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1974 and tied withPascal Devoyon for third prize in theLeeds International Pianoforte Competition in 1975. He emigrated from Hungary in 1979.[8] He was unable to meet residency requirements for US citizenship due to his long absences for touring and accepted Austrian citizenship in 1987 and established homes in London and Salzburg.[9]
From 1989 until 1998, Schiff was artistic director of the "Musiktage Mondsee" chamber music festival nearSalzburg. In 1995, he co-founded the Ittingen Whitsun Concert (Ittinger Pfingstkonzerte) in Ittingen, Switzerland, together with the famed oboistHeinz Holliger. From 2004 to 2007 he was artist in residence of the Kunstfest Weimar. In the 2007–08 season he was pianist in residence of theBerlin Philharmonic. In 2011–12 he was one of the "Perspectives Artists" ofCarnegie Hall.
In 1999, he formed an occasional chamber orchestra, which he named theCappella Andrea Barca, with the name coming from an Italian translation of his last name (Barca and Schiff both mean "boat", Barca in Italian and Schiff in German), although he has provided a humorous pseudo-biography of the fictional Barca.[10] He has appeared as a conductor with several major orchestras, including regular appearances withPhilharmonia Orchestra in London and theChamber Orchestra of Europe, and recent ones with theSan Francisco Symphony andLos Angeles Philharmonic.[3]
Schiff is one of the most renowned interpreters ofBach,Mozart,Beethoven,Schubert andSchumann.[11] His many recordings for theDecca label include much of the keyboard music of Bach, music ofDomenico Scarlatti,Ernst von Dohnányi,Johannes Brahms, andPiotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the complete piano sonatas of Mozart and Schubert, and the complete piano concertosof Mozart with theCamerata Academica Salzburg led bySándor Végh, and ofMendelssohn withCharles Dutoit. His recordings for theTeldec label include the complete piano concertos of Beethoven with theStaatskapelle Dresden led byBernard Haitink, and ofBéla Bartók with theBudapest Festival Orchestra led byIván Fischer, as well as solo works by Haydn, Brahms, and others. Notable recordings for theECM label include the complete piano concertos of Brahms with theOrchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, music ofJanáček andSándor Veress, major works of Schubert and Beethoven using a periodfortepiano, and live recordings of all ofBeethoven's piano sonatas, made in Zurich.[12] Between 2004 and 2006 he gave a series of lecture-recitals on the complete Beethoven sonatas in London'sWigmore Hall.[13] His live concert recordings for ECM also include his second traversals of the Bach Partitas andGoldberg Variations.
Schiff has given lectures on the interpretation of the music he plays; in 2024, he lectured at theWigmore Hall, London on Bach'sArt of Fugue, before performing the piece in the same concert.[14]
ForG. Henle, he provided fingerings for new editions of Bach'sThe Well-Tempered Clavier (published in 2006) and fingerings and missing cadenzas for a new edition of the Mozart piano concertos (begun in 2007).
Schiff has said he admires many pianists, includingArtur Schnabel,Edwin Fischer,Alfred Cortot,Sergei Rachmaninoff,Ignaz Friedman,Josef Hofmann,Glenn Gould,Annie Fischer,Rudolf Serkin,Mieczysław Horszowski,Radu Lupu,Murray Perahia,Richard Goode andPeter Serkin.[4]
| External audio | |
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 You may hear Andras Schiff performingWolfgang Amadeus Mozart'sPiano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488 with Sandor Vegh conducting the Camerata Academica des Mozarteums SalzburgHere on archive.org |
Schiff, known for his video broadcast masterclasses, is currently on the faculty of theBarenboim–Said Akademie in Berlin, Germany, serving as distinguished visiting professor of piano.[15] He has given masterclasses at such prestigious schools asJuilliard School,Oberlin College, and theRoyal Academy of Music. He also held a series of masterclasses in 2019 at theGstaadMenuhin Piano Festival for just seven selected students: Florian Caroubi, Pallavi Mahidhara, Nuron Mukumi, Nicolas Namoradze, Elena Nefedova, Chiara Opalio, and Shir Semmel.[16]
The awards that Schiff has won include a1990 Grammy Award forBest Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) –English Suites byBach; a 1990Gramophone Award for a Schubert recital with Peter Schreier; the Bartók Prize in 1991; theClaudio Arrau Memorial Medal in 1994; theKossuth Prize in 1996; theLéonie Sonning Music Prize in 1997; honorary membership in theBeethoven House inBonn, awarded in 2006 for his complete recording of Beethoven's piano sonatas; the Italian prize, Premio della critica musicale Franco Abbiati, also for his Beethoven cycle in 2007; also in 2007, theRoyal Academy of Music Bach Prize, sponsored by the Kohn Foundation, awarded to "an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the performance and/or scholarly study of Johann Sebastian Bach";[17] theWigmore Hall Medal in 2008;[18] also in 2008, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr Prize, for outstanding pianistic achievement; theRobert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau in 2011; Germany's Orden Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste (2011)[19] and in January 2012, the GoldenMozart Medal of theInternational Mozarteum Foundation.[20]
He has been made an honorary professor by music academies in Budapest, Detmold and Munich and is a Special Supernumerary Fellow ofBalliol College,Oxford University. He is a Fellow of theRoyal Northern College of Music.[21] In December 2013, theRoyal Philharmonic Society awarded him its gold medal.
He was created aKnight Bachelor in theQueen's Birthday Honours list of 2014, for services to music.[22]
In 2018, Schiff received Honorary Doctorate from HRH The Prince of Wales, President of the Royal College of Music (RCM).[23][24] Schiff was awarded the 2022Bach Medal by the City of Leipzig.[25][26]
In 2025 Schiff won the prestigiousPraemium Imperiale award in the category 'Music'.[27]
Schiff is married to the violinistYūko Shiokawa. The couple have residences in London;Florence, Italy;[2]Kamakura, Japan; andBasel, Switzerland.[28][29][30]
Schiff has made public statements about politics. He has also become an outspoken critic of the Hungarian government ofViktor Orbán, whom he has publicly accused of racism, anti-Semitism, and neo-fascism, stating in January 2012 that he would never again set foot in his native country.[31]
In 2000, he commented on the rise of the far-right in Austria.[32] He subsequently gave up his Austrian citizenship and took British citizenship in 2001.[33]
On 1 January 2011, Schiff published a letter inThe Washington Post questioning whether "Hungary is ready and worthy to take on" the rotating presidency of the council of theEuropean Union, as it did that day,[34] because of "racism, discrimination against theRoma, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, chauvinism and reactionary nationalism," and "the latest media laws" (referring to new media laws passed at the end of December 2010[35] by the government ofViktor Orbán).
On 16 January 2011, Schiff told theFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he had become "persona non grata" in Hungary and would probably never perform there again "or even visit." On 17 January he joined Hungarian conductorÁdám Fischer and six other Hungarian intellectuals and artists in publishing an open letter "To the artists of Europe and the World" protesting against "racism against Roma, with homophobia and with antisemitism" and saying that "the freedom of the media, of the arts and artists, and of those who could most effectively act against such tendencies is more and more curtailed." The letter appeared in German and in English,[36] with a note of support fromDaniel Barenboim appended. As a result of his statements, he came under attack from Hungarian nationalists.[37]
On 14 January 2012, in an interview with the German newspaperDer Tagesspiegel, Schiff expressed his deep worries about right-wing radical gangs terrorisingRoma, openantisemitism, and the very conservative chauvinism and nationalism of the rulingFidesz party in Hungary lately. Since, as he said, "antisemitic baiting has become socially acceptable in Hungary", and he had been decried asSaujude on the Internet, he had cancelled all his concerts in Hungary, he said.[31]In December 2012, he said to the website ofYle Uutiset (Finnish television) that he would remain in self-imposed exile from Hungary.[38]
In December 2013, Schiff told an interviewer from theBBC that he had received anonymous threats online, stating that "If I return to Hungary, they will cut off both of my hands. I don't want to risk physical and mental assault." In addition, wrote the interviewer, "Even without that threat, Schiff says he would find it difficult to play in Hungary. Art and politics cannot be disentangled. The audience matters to performers. 'We are not naïve,' he says."[33]
In 2025, Schiff announced that he would cancel all upcoming appearances in the United States due to PresidentDonald Trump's "unbelievable bullying" of other nations and leaders, especially PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. He elaborated that Trump's immigration policies “ring a bell — it rings a terrible bell. My family, my Jewish family, was deported — some to Auschwitz, and some to other concentration camps.”[39]
the programme for the concerts on Sunday 3 March and Tuesday 5 March 2024 has been confirmed as Bach's Art of Fugue BWV1080, described by Sir András Schiff as 'Bach's greatest work'.
