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 BarenboimโSaid Akademie in Berlin, [ 1 ] and the first artist-in-residence of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Schiff was born in Budapest to a Jewish family, as an only child. 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. Schiff was fourth prize winner of the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in and tied with Pascal Devoyon for third prize in the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in He emigrated from Hungary in From until , Schiff was artistic director of the "Musiktage Mondsee" chamber music festival near Salzburg.
From to he was artist in residence of the Kunstfest Weimar. In the โ08 season he was pianist in residence of the Berlin Philharmonic. In โ12 he was one of the "Perspectives Artists" of Carnegie Hall. In , 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.
Schiff is one of the most renowned interpreters of Bach , Mozart , Beethoven , Schubert and Schumann. Schiff has given lectures on the interpretation of the music he plays; in , 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 and fingerings and missing cadenzas for a new edition of the Mozart piano concertos begun in Schiff, known for his video broadcast masterclasses, is currently on the faculty of the BarenboimโSaid Akademie in Berlin, Germany, serving as distinguished visiting professor of piano. He was created a Knight Bachelor in the Queen's Birthday Honours list of , for services to music.
