Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor. He has received numerous awards and honours, including the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
,
Gramophone Award,
Mozart Medal, and
Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize, and was appointed
Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...
in the 2014 Queen's
Birthday Honours for services to music. He is also known for his public criticism of political movements in Hungary and Austria.
Schiff is a distinguished visiting professor of piano at the
Barenboim–Said Akademie in Berlin, and the first
artist-in-residence of the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Biography
Schiff was born in
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
to a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family, as an only child.
He began piano lessons at age five, studying at the
Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Elisabeth Vadász, then with
Pál Kadosa and
Ferenc 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."
[James R. Oestreich, "András Schiff Holds Forceful Convictions in a Velvet Glove," New York Times, 22 October 2015, ] He also said that from Rados he learned "the main elements of piano playing, tone production, and self-control; how to listen to
neselfand how to practise well, without wasting time, always musically, never mechanically."
Among his classmates were renowned concert pianists
Zoltán Kocsis
Zoltán Kocsis (; 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016) was a Hungarian pianist, conducting, conductor and composer.
Biography
Studies
Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conser ...
and
Dezső Ránki. Concurrently with his studies in Budapest, he also studied with
Tatiana Nikolayeva and
Bella Davidovich in summer courses at the
Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar. He then studied in London with
George Malcolm, a pioneer in the use of period keyboard instruments; Schiff made a recording with Malcolm of four-hand music by Mozart using a
fortepiano that had once belonged to the composer. He also studied piano and chamber music with
György Kurtág.
Schiff was fourth prize winner of the
Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1974 and tied with
Pascal Devoyon for third prize in the
Leeds International Pianoforte Competition
The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, is an international piano competition which takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It ...
in 1975. He emigrated from Hungary in 1979. 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.
From 1989 until 1998, Schiff was artistic director of the "Musiktage Mondsee" chamber music festival near
Salzburg
Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
. In 1995, he co-founded the Ittingen Whitsun Concert (''Ittinger Pfingstkonzerte'') in Ittingen, Switzerland, together with the famed oboist
Heinz 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 the
Berlin Philharmonic. In 2011–12 he was one of the "Perspectives Artists" of
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
.
In 1999, he formed an occasional chamber orchestra, which he named the ''Cappella 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. He has appeared as a conductor with several major orchestras, including regular appearances with
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...
in London and the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and recent ones with the
San Francisco Symphony and
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...
.
Schiff is one of the most renowned interpreters of
Bach,
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
,
Beethoven,
Schubert and
Schumann. His many recordings for the
Decca label include much of the keyboard music of Bach, music of
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (26 October 1685 – 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque music, Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical peri ...
,
Ernst von Dohnányi,
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
, and
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the complete piano sonatas of Mozart and Schubert, and the complete piano concertos
of Mozart with the
Camerata Academica Salzburg led by
Sándor Végh, and of
Mendelssohn with
Charles Dutoit. His recordings for the
Teldec label include the complete piano concertos of Beethoven with the
Staatskapelle Dresden led by
Bernard Haitink, and of
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
with the
Budapest Festival Orchestra led by
Iván Fischer, as well as solo works by Haydn, Brahms, and others. Notable recordings for the
ECM label include the complete piano concertos of Brahms with the
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, music of
Janáček and
Sándor Veress, major works of Schubert and Beethoven using a period
fortepiano, and live recordings of all of
Beethoven's piano sonatas, made in Zurich.
Between 2004 and 2006 he gave a series of lecture-recitals on the complete Beethoven sonatas in London's
Wigmore Hall. His live concert recordings for ECM also include his second traversals of the Bach Partitas and ''
Goldberg Variations''.
Schiff has given lectures on the interpretation of the music he plays; in 2024, he lectured at the
Wigmore Hall, London on Bach's ''
Art of Fugue'', before performing the piece in the same concert.
For
G. Henle, he provided fingerings for new editions of Bach's ''
The Well-Tempered Clavier'' (published in 2006) and fingerings and missing cadenzas for a new edition of the Mozart piano concertos (begun in 2007).
Schiff is married to the violinist
Yūko Shiokawa. The couple have residences in London,
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
, Italy,
Kamakura
, officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...
, Japan and
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
, Switzerland.
Schiff has said he admires many pianists, including
Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and Pedagogy, pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th ...
,
Edwin Fischer,
Alfred Cortot,
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...
,
Ignaz Friedman,
Josef Hofmann,
Glenn Gould,
Annie Fischer,
Rudolf Serkin
Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century.
Early life, childhood debut, and education
Serkin was born in ...
,
Mieczysław Horszowski,
Radu Lupu,
Murray Perahia,
Richard Goode and
Peter Serkin.
[
]
Teaching
Schiff, known for his video broadcast masterclasses, is currently on the faculty of the Barenboim–Said Akademie in Berlin, Germany, serving as distinguished visiting professor of piano. He has given masterclasses at such prestigious schools as Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
, Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
, and the Royal Academy of Music. He also held a series of masterclasses in 2019 at the Gstaad Menuhin Piano Festival for just seven selected students: Florian Caroubi, Pallavi Mahidhara, Nuron Mukumi, Nicolas Namoradze, Elena Nefedova, Chiara Opalio, and Shir Semmel.
Awards and honours
The awards that Schiff has won include a 1990 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) – English Suites by Bach; a 1990 Gramophone Award for a Schubert recital with Peter Schreier; the Bartók Prize in 1991; the Claudio Arrau Memorial Medal in 1994; the Kossuth Prize in 1996; the Léonie Sonning Music Prize in 1997; honorary membership in the Beethoven House in Bonn
Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
, 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, the Royal 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"; the Wigmore Hall Medal in 2008; also in 2008, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr Prize, for outstanding pianistic achievement; the Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau in 2011; Germany's Orden Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste (2011) and in January 2012, the Golden Mozart Medal of the International Mozarteum Foundation.
He has been made an honorary professor by music academies in Budapest, Detmold and Munich and is a Special Supernumerary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music. In December 2013, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him its gold medal.
He was created a Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...
in the Queen's Birthday Honours list of 2014, for services to music.
In 2018, Schiff received Honorary Doctorate from HRH The Prince of Wales, President of the Royal College of Music (RCM). Schiff was awarded the 2022 Bach Medal by the City of Leipzig.
Political views
Schiff has made public statements about politics in Austria and Hungary. He has also become an outspoken critic of the Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán
Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 200 ...
, 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.
Austria
In 2000, he commented on the rise of the far-right in Austria. He subsequently gave up his Austrian citizenship and took British citizenship in 2001.
Hungary
On 1 January 2011, Schiff published a letter in ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' questioning whether "Hungary is ready and worthy to take on" the rotating presidency of the council of the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, as it did that day, because of "racism, discrimination against the Roma, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, chauvinism and reactionary nationalism," and "the latest media laws" (referring to new media laws passed at the end of December 2010 by the government of Viktor Orbán
Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 200 ...
).
On 16 January 2011, Schiff told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...
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 conductor Ádám 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, with a note of support from Daniel Barenboim appended. As a result of his statements, he came under attack from Hungarian nationalists.
On 14 January 2012, in an interview with the German newspaper '' Der Tagesspiegel'', Schiff expressed his deep worries about right-wing radical gangs terrorising Roma, open antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
, and the very conservative chauvinism and nationalism of the ruling Fidesz party in Hungary lately. Since, as he said, "antisemitic baiting has become socially acceptable in Hungary", and he had been decried as '' Saujude'' on the Internet, he had cancelled all his concerts in Hungary, he said.
In December 2012, he said to the website of '' Yle Uutiset'' (Finnish television) that he would remain in self-imposed exile from Hungary.
In December 2013, Schiff told an interviewer from the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
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."
United States
In 2025, Schiff announced that he would cancel all upcoming appearances in the United States due to President Donald Trump's "unbelievable bullying" of other nations and leaders, especially President Volodymyr 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.”[https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/arts/music/andras-schiff-trump-boycott.html]
References
Further reading
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External links
Andras Schiff: Beethoven Lecture-recitals at Wigmore Hall, London
In Concert on National Public Radio
Andras Schiff biography
at the Pittsburgh Symphony
Lucerne Festival profile of the Cappella Andrea Barca
Carnegie Hall Perspective page on András Schiff
András Schiff, "Hungarians must face their Nazi past, not venerate it". ''The Guardian'', "Comment is free" blog, 11 December 2013
* , WNCN-FM, 20 May 1983
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiff, Andras
1953 births
Living people
Grammy Award winners
Hungarian classical pianists
Hungarian male musicians
British male classical pianists
Classical accompanists
Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Hungarian Jews
Jewish classical pianists
Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni
Prize-winners of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition
Honorary members of the Royal Academy of Music
Bach musicians
British classical pianists
Winners of the Royal Academy of Music/ Kohn Foundation Bach Prize
Knights Bachelor
Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Hungarian emigrants to Austria
Naturalised citizens of Austria
20th-century Hungarian pianists
21st-century Hungarian pianists
British people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
21st-century conductors (music)
Musicians from Budapest
Musicians awarded knighthoods
20th-century classical pianists