Andreas Haefliger

Andreas Haefliger has built a versatile career as a pianist, earning recognition as a soloist and recitalist while also excelling in chamber settings and as an accompanist. Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, and Schubert occupy central places in his programs, yet he also embraces contemporary scores by composers including Sofia Gubaidulina and Thomas Adès. Chamber collaborations have linked him with the Takács Quartet, Carmina Quartet, and Safri Duo, and he has appeared in concert and on disc with his wife, flutist Marina Piccinini. Additional partnerships include his late father, the celebrated tenor Ernst Haefliger, and baritone Matthias Goerne. Leading festivals have featured his performances, and he has performed as soloist with major orchestras worldwide. His recordings are issued on Sony, Avie, Decca, and further labels.

Born in Berlin in 1962, Haefliger spent his formative years in Switzerland. Remarkable ability surfaced early, prompting enrollment at Juilliard at age 15, where Herbert Stessin numbered among his teachers. He received the Gina Bachauer Memorial Scholarship Award twice while studying there. Although his initial efforts centered on establishing a presence in the United States, he joined his Juilliard-trained violinist brother Michael for a 1985 Lucerne Festival debut that included works by Beethoven, Richard Strauss, and Ives. New York recital debut followed in 1988 at the 92nd Street Y, encompassing pieces by Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Schoenberg, Schubert, and Copland. Recording success arrived concurrently, highlighted by a 1991 Sony release devoted to Mozart sonatas.

London debut took place at Wigmore Hall in 1993, succeeded the following year by a Proms appearance as soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Also in 1994, he presented a program of Beethoven and Schumann works at the Rheingau Musik Festival in Germany. In 1998 he accompanied Goerne in acclaimed Schubert lieder performances at Alice Tully Hall. That same season brought his Carnegie Hall debut. During the 2000 Lincoln Center Festival he joined the New York Philharmonic under Hans Vonk for a notable account of Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie.

Haefliger inaugurated the Perspectives recording project in 2004 on the Avie label, a series encompassing Beethoven’s complete solo piano music together with works by additional composers. The first volume paired Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 with pieces by Mozart, Schubert, and Adès. Further concert successes followed, among them a 2007 Cardiff performance of the Beethoven Third Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales led by Thierry Fischer and a 2011 rendition of the Bartók Third Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Jonathan Nott. An exclusive contract with BIS was signed in 2017, and the seventh volume of Perspectives appeared in 2018. In 2020 he recorded piano concertos by Ammann, Ravel, and Bartók with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Susanna Mälkki.