Back to Press Release List > 09/10/2007 - Andras Schiff, 10/21 and 10/24

Pianist András Schiff will kick-off a two-year survey of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at Carnegie Hall with two fall recitals on October 21 and 24 in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Mr. Schiff will perform sonatas Nos. 1 through 4 on Sunday, October 21 at 2:00 p.m. and Nos. 5 through 8 on Wednesday, October 24 at 8:00 p.m. He will continue his Beethoven exploration with two recitals later this season on Wednesday, April 16 and Friday, April 18, completing the cycle during Carnegie Hall’s 2008–2009 season. Complete program information for Mr. Schiff’s October and April programs is listed below.

Mr. Schiff’s Beethoven Sonata Project performances at Carnegie Hall are part of a North American tour that begins this season. In addition to his New York performances, Mr. Schiff will present the complete Beethoven sonatas in Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, San Francisco’s Symphony Hall, and Ann Arbor’s Hill Auditorium. Individual recitals are slated for Boston, Washington DC, Princeton, and Santa Barbara.

Born in Budapest, András Schiff began piano lessons at the age of five with Elisabeth Vadász and continued his musical studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy and with George Malcolm in London. Recital performances and special projects have taken him to many of the world’s international music capitals and his repertoire includes the major piano works of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Bartók. In 2004, Mr. Schiff began a series of performances in Europe exploring the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in chronological order (known as the Beethoven Sonata Project). This project was recorded live for the ECM New Series label and is scheduled to be released in eight volumes through 2009 with each album featuring cover art by Czech painter Jan Jedlicka.

During the coming seasons, the focus of Mr. Schiff's orchestral performances will primarily be conducting piano works of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart from the keyboard. He has annual engagements with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as conductor and soloist. He is also a regular visitor as conductor and soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Schiff has established a vast discography, including recordings for Teldec, London/Decca, and ECM New Series. Recordings for ECM include the complete solo piano music of Beethoven and Janáček, a solo disc of Schumann piano pieces, and his second recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. He has received several awards for his recordings, including two Grammy Awards, and a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Classical Album (Without Orchestra)" for the second volume of his Complete Beethoven Sonata recordings for ECM. In 2007, András Schiff and music publisher G. Henle began a unique partnership to produce special joint editions of piano works by Mozart and Bach, edited by Mr. Schiff and including his own fingerings and cadenzas.

Among his many honors, András Schiff was awarded the Bartók Prize in 1991 and the Claudio Arrau Memorial medal from the Robert Schumann Society in 1994. In March 1996, Mr. Schiff received the highest Hungarian distinction, the Kossuth Prize, and in May 1997 he received the Leonie Sonnings Music Prize in Copenhagen. He was awarded the Palladio d'Oro by the city of Vicenza, and the Musikfest-Preis Bremen in 2003. In June 2006, he became an Honorary Member of the Beethoven House in Bonn, and, in May 2007, he was presented with the renowned Italian Prize, "the Premio della critica musicale Franco Abbiati" in recognition of his Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle. András Schiff is an Honorary Professor of Music Schools in Budapest, Detmold, and Munich. In 2001, Mr. Schiff became a British citizen and he resides in Florence and London with his wife, violinist Yuuko Shiokawa.

Program Information
Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 2:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
ANDRÁS SCHIFF, Piano

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1
Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2, No. 2
Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2, No. 3
Sonata No. 4 in E-flat Major, Op. 7
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
ANDRÁS SCHIFF, Piano

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

Sonata No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 1
Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10, No. 2
Sonata No. 7 in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3
Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13, "Pathétique"
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
ANDRÁS SCHIFF, Piano

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

Sonata No. 19 in G Minor, Op. 49, No. 1
Sonata No. 20 in G Major, Op. 49, No. 2
Sonata No. 9 in E Major, Op. 14, No. 1
Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 14, No. 2
Sonata No. 11 in B-flat Major, Op. 22
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Friday, April 18, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
ANDRÁS SCHIFF, Piano

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

Sonata No. 12 in A-flat Major, Op. 26
Sonata No. 13 in E-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 1
Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2, "Moonlight"
Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28, "Pastoral"
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