Sir András Schiff, piano

Pianist Sir András Schiff is known as one of the most renowned interpreters of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. A Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, he started piano at the age of five and has since received numerous major awards and honors, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize. In 2014, Sir András was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music. For his October 29 Schubert Club recital, he will perform a program featuring Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Brahms and Bach on the Ordway Music Theater stage. This will be his first Schubert Club recital in over 20 years, and we are thrilled to welcome him back to the Ordway stage. We advise you purchase your tickets early, as we expect this concert to sell out well in advance!

Sir András Schiff

Sir András Schiff is world-renowned and critically acclaimed as a pianist, conductor, pedagogue and lecturer. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1953, he started piano lessons at age five with Elisabeth Vadász. He continued his musical studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy with Professor Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados, and in London with George Malcolm. 

The son of Holocaust survivors, this Hungarian-born, British-based virtuoso believes it is, “the responsibility of every politically informed artist to speak out against racial injustice and persecution.” Growing up in communist-occupied Budapest as a Jew, Schiff was exposed to political oppression and social discrimination at an early age, conditions which helped shape his musical career. Schiff found an oasis studying at the Budapest Academy, where music became a source of expression. He recalls that when the pianist Sviatoslav Richter came to play “the police had to be called in to exercise classical music crowd control.” In 2012, Schiff exiled himself from his native Hungary due to his views on the political climate. “I have been threatened,” Schiff later explained in an interview with the BBC, “if I return to Hungary, they will cut off both of my hands.” Still, the master pianist continues to play, using his music to inspire others to speak up against tyranny, valuing the “wonderful experience” of live performance for the audience and the artist.

“Together for those two hours,” Schiff says, “we can somehow change the world into a better place.”

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