Mozart and Dvořák with András Schiff

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) was founded in 1981 by a group of young musicians who became acquainted as part of the European Community Youth Orchestra (now EUYO). There are now about 60 members of the COE, who pursue parallel careers as principals or section leaders of nationally-based orchestras, as eminent chamber musicians, and as tutors of music.

From the outset, the COE’s identity was shaped by its collaborations with leading conductors and soloists. Claudio Abbado, in particular, played a crucial role as a mentor in the orchestra’s early years, conducting the COE in staged productions of Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims and Il barbiere di Siviglia, as well as Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. He also led numerous concerts, focusing especially on works by Schubert and Brahms. Nikolaus Harnoncourt was another key influence, working extensively with the COE on performances and recordings of the complete Beethoven symphonies, as well as opera productions at the Salzburg, Vienna, and Styriarte festivals.

The COE currently works closely with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, and Sir András Schiff, who are Honorary Members following in the footsteps of Bernard Haitink and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, as well as with Sir Antonio Pappano and Robin Ticciati.

The orchestra maintains strong ties with major European festivals and concert halls, including the Cologne Philharmonie, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Paris Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. In partnership with the Kronberg Academy, the COE became the first-ever orchestra-in-residence at the Casals Forum in Kronberg in 2022. Since that same year, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe has also served as Orchestra-in-Residence at the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt.

With a discography of over 250 works, the COE’s recordings have earned numerous international accolades, including two Grammy Awards and three Gramophone Record of the Year Awards. In November 2020, the COE released an archival recording of Schubert’s symphonies, performed at the Styriarte Festival in Graz in 1988 with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, through ICA Classics. The four-CD box set was met with widespread critical acclaim, prompting the release of a second box set featuring archive recordings with Harnoncourt, including works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. In January 2022, the COE also released a complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies on DVD and Blu-ray, conducted by Paavo Berglund at the Helsinki Festival in 1998. In February 2023, a recording of Clara Wieck-Schumann’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto, featuring Beatrice Rana and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, received international acclaim. In 2024, Deutsche Grammophon released the COE’s recording of the Brahms symphonies, recorded in 2022 and 2023 at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus with Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

In 2009, the COE Academy was established to provide a select group of exceptional students with the opportunity to study with the orchestra’s principal players and, importantly, to gain invaluable experience by traveling on tour with the COE.

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe is a privately funded ensemble that receives invaluable financial support, particularly from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, as well as from a number of dedicated patrons, including Dasha Shenkman, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, the Rupert Hughes Will Trust, the Underwood Trust, the 35th Anniversary Friends, and the American Friends of the COE.

source: Künstleragentur Dr. Raab & Dr. Böhm

Sir András Schiff was born in Budapest in 1953. He received his first piano lessons at the age of five from Elisabeth Vadász. He later continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Prof. Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág, and Ferenc Rados, as well as with George Malcolm in London.

Piano recitals have always been a central part of his artistic activities, particularly his cyclical performances of piano works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, and Bartók. Since the pandemic, he no longer announces the programs for his recitals in advance, instead selecting works on the evening of the concert to suit the instrument and the hall.

Sir András Schiff performs with most of the internationally important orchestras and conductors. He focuses on the performance of the piano concertos by Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven under his direction. In 1999, he founded Cappella Andrea Barca, a chamber orchestra composed of musician friends and soloists, with whom he has since worked closely as both conductor and soloist. He also enjoys a longstanding collaboration with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Since 1998, he has been the artistic director of the Omaggio a Palladio festival, held at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza with Cappella Andrea Barca.

In 2018, he accepted the invitation to become an Associate Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, which met his growing interest in performing on historical keyboard instruments.

Sir András Schiff has been a passionate chamber musician since his youth. From 1989 to 1998, he directed the Musiktage Mondsee, a chamber music festival in Austria that gained significant international recognition. Together with Heinz Holliger, he was also the artistic director of the Ittinger Pfingstkonzerte at Kartause Ittingen, Switzerland, from 1995 to 2013.

Supporting young musicians is particularly close to his heart. He teaches piano and chamber music at the Kronberg Academy and the Barenboim-Said Academy and gives numerous masterclasses. In 2014, he founded the Building Bridges mentoring program, which provides long-term support for emerging pianists.

For 15 years, Sir András Schiff was an exclusive Decca artist; in celebration of his 70th birthday, the label released a box set containing all 78 albums he recorded for them. Since 1998, he has recorded exclusively for ECM, where his live recordings of Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas, performed at the Zurich Tonhalle, received the highest accolades. His album Geistervariationen, featuring compositions by Robert Schumann, won the 2012 International Classical Music Award in the category Solo Instrument Recording of the Year. A chamber music edition in collaboration with clarinetist and composer Jörg Widmann includes Brahms’s two clarinet sonatas, Op. 120, as well as Intermezzi for Piano, composed by Widmann and dedicated to Sir András Schiff. His most recent recordings include Brahms’s two piano concertos, performed on a historic Blüthner piano with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (2021), and a selection of J.S. Bach’s key works, played on a clavichord (2023).

In March 2017, his book Musik kommt aus der Stille (Music Comes Out of Silence) was published by Bärenreiter and Henschel. The book, which includes essays and conversations with Martin Meyer, explores Schiff’s artistic philosophy, playing techniques, interpretative methods, and professional experiences as a pianist and conductor. It has been translated into several languages and republished in 2024.

In the spring of 2011, Schiff made headlines when he publicly spoke out against alarming political developments in Hungary. In response to the insults and attacks he received from Hungarian nationalists, he decided to stop performing in his home country.

Sir András Schiff has received numerous international prizes and distinctions. In 2006, he was honoured with an honorary membership of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn for his outstanding achievements as a Beethoven interpreter. He has been the recipient of the Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau and the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts since 2011. In 2012, he was awarded the Grand Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Wigmore Hall Medal in London for his 30 years of musical activity, and the Golden Mozart Medal of the International Mozarteum Foundation. In the same year, he was also appointed Special Supernumerary Fellow of Balliol College (Oxford, UK) and received the Royal Philharmonic Society's highest honour, the Gold Medal, in London. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Leeds in 2014 and the Royal College of Music in 2018. In 2013, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, receiving the title Knight Bachelor for his services to music. In 2021, he was awarded the Antonín Dvořák Prize in Prague for his many years of promoting Czech composers through his numerous recordings and concert activities worldwide. In 2022, he received the Bach Medal of the City of Leipzig as one of the most important Bach interpreters of our time.

He has been an honorary citizen of the city of Vicenza since December 2014 and an honorary member of the Accademia Olimpica di Vicenza since 2016, from which he received the Lauro Olimpico in 2023 for his extraordinary contribution to the enhancement of Vicenza's artistic and cultural heritage. In March 2024, he was awarded the Una vita nella musica prize by the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In January 2012, he was awarded the Golden Mozart Medal of the International Mozarteum Foundation. He has been an honorary member of the Wiener Konzerthaus since the same year.

In August 2023, at his 66th appearance at the Salzburg Festival, he was honoured with the Festival Pin with Rubies as an “essential artist who has shaped Festival history.” In June 2024, Sir András Schiff was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class, and received the Bösendorfer Ring, which had previously been awarded to Wilhelm Backhaus and Paul Badura-Skoda.

source: Künstleragentur Dr. Raab & Dr. Böhm