Masterclass – sir András Schiff
In collaboration with
Masterclass by the piano virtuoso András Schiff
His masterclasses on YouTube have millions of views and are a source of inspiration not only for musicians but also for listeners who want to learn something unusual about classical music. Sir András Schiff has a way of inspiring people with unexpected insights.
Schiff’s dedication to the younger generation is truly extraordinary. As well as giving numerous masterclasses for which, like Franz Liszt, he does not charge a fee, he teaches in Germany at the Barenboim-Said Academy and the Kronberg Academy, and gives lectures on the composers he loves: Beethoven, Bach, Bartók, Schubert… He also supports young talents through the Building Bridges programme, in which he offers them not only mentoring but also prestigious concert opportunities. “Many people say that ‘the level of pianists is very high nowadays ‘. I’m sorry, but I don’t agree, the mechanical level is very high, but the artistic and even the technical level is not, if we include tone production, color fantasy and its realisation. That is also part of the technique. If I compare today’s pianists with Cortot, Joseph Hoffman, Ignaz Friedman or Schnabel, they are far, far away. Although all of these people, perhaps with the exception of Joseph Hoffman, would not win a competition today. They would not even let Alfred Cortot in the first round, but that says more about competitions than about Cortot,” says Schiff.
He himself studied at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest under the legendary György Kurtág, Pál Kadosa and Ferenc Rados. He then studied in London under George Malcolm. His extensive repertoire includes, amongst other works, the complete piano works of Bach, Haydn, Schubert and Bartók, as well as the complete cycle of Beethoven’s sonatas. He has received a number of prestigious awards for his contribution to the arts: International Mozarteum Foundation’s Golden Medal, Germany’s Great Cross of Merit with Star, Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal, an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Music in London and the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest, and the ‘Jean Gimbel Lane Prize’ from The Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music.
Whether you’re a student or a music lover, come along to his masterclass in Prague. You’ll learn how to appreciate music from unexpected angles. As Schiff says: “Classical music can be appreciated without specialist knowledge, but that appreciation benefits greatly from focused study and discernment.”
The project is being organised in collaboration with the Faculty of Music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
