Biography
Pianist Herbert Schuch has earned recognition for crafting distinctive thematic recitals that draw both live audiences and record collectors. Alongside his wife, pianist Gülru Ensari, he has documented an extensive body of duo-piano literature.
Born in 1979 in Timisoara, Romania, Schuch began piano studies in childhood and devoted ten years to the violin as well. His family relocated to Germany in 1988. He pursued piano training at Salzburg’s Mozarteum under Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and absorbed lasting influence from subsequent work with Alfred Brendel. Momentum arrived in 2005 when he captured first prizes at three prominent contests—the Casagrande Competition, the London International Piano Competition, and Vienna’s International Beethoven Competition. That same year he issued his debut recording, a program of Ravel and Schumann, on Oehms Classics, a relationship that continued through the middle of the following decade.
Schuch has appeared as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Camerata Salzburg, among other leading ensembles. Regular festival engagements have included the Salzburg Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, and the Ruhr Piano Festival. Particularly acclaimed are his conceptually unified recitals, such as Invocation, which juxtaposes Bach, Liszt, Messiaen, Murail, and Ravel to suggest the resonance of bells; the program has been presented at the Salzburg Festival, Dresden’s Frauenkirche, and the Berlin Philharmonie. An avid chamber musician, he toured in 2017 with violinist Julia Fischer and cellist Daniel Müller-Schott.
The Invocation recital was captured for Naïve in 2014; seven discs made for that imprint were later compiled as The Oehms Classics Recordings in 2015. Subsequent releases appeared on CAvi-Music, Orfeo, and Berlin Classics before Schuch joined Sony Classical for the 2020 album Beethoven’s World, featuring seldom-heard scores by Salieri, Hummel, and Jan Václav Voříšek. With Ensari he has issued a sequence of four-hand and two-piano albums on CAvi-Music, inaugurated by Go East! in 2017, exploring repertoire tied to their respective heritages. In 2022 he accompanied Daniel Müller-Schott on Edvard Grieg: The Cello Works, and in 2024 the duo returned to Naïve with the recital Eternity.
Born in 1979 in Timisoara, Romania, Schuch began piano studies in childhood and devoted ten years to the violin as well. His family relocated to Germany in 1988. He pursued piano training at Salzburg’s Mozarteum under Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and absorbed lasting influence from subsequent work with Alfred Brendel. Momentum arrived in 2005 when he captured first prizes at three prominent contests—the Casagrande Competition, the London International Piano Competition, and Vienna’s International Beethoven Competition. That same year he issued his debut recording, a program of Ravel and Schumann, on Oehms Classics, a relationship that continued through the middle of the following decade.
Schuch has appeared as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Camerata Salzburg, among other leading ensembles. Regular festival engagements have included the Salzburg Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, and the Ruhr Piano Festival. Particularly acclaimed are his conceptually unified recitals, such as Invocation, which juxtaposes Bach, Liszt, Messiaen, Murail, and Ravel to suggest the resonance of bells; the program has been presented at the Salzburg Festival, Dresden’s Frauenkirche, and the Berlin Philharmonie. An avid chamber musician, he toured in 2017 with violinist Julia Fischer and cellist Daniel Müller-Schott.
The Invocation recital was captured for Naïve in 2014; seven discs made for that imprint were later compiled as The Oehms Classics Recordings in 2015. Subsequent releases appeared on CAvi-Music, Orfeo, and Berlin Classics before Schuch joined Sony Classical for the 2020 album Beethoven’s World, featuring seldom-heard scores by Salieri, Hummel, and Jan Václav Voříšek. With Ensari he has issued a sequence of four-hand and two-piano albums on CAvi-Music, inaugurated by Go East! in 2017, exploring repertoire tied to their respective heritages. In 2022 he accompanied Daniel Müller-Schott on Edvard Grieg: The Cello Works, and in 2024 the duo returned to Naïve with the recital Eternity.
Albums
BERLIN 1923 - Beethoven & Schulhoff: Piano Concertos
2023
Schulhoff: Concerto for Piano & Small Orchestra, Op. 43, WV 66: IIIb. Subito sostenuto ma alla breve. Alla zingaresca
2023
SOULMATES
2022
Janáček: On An Overgrown Path / Book 1: No. 3, Come with us!
2022
Edvard Grieg: Cello Works
2022
Brahms Schumann Gade
2022
In Search of
2022
Reflecting Beethoven
2020
Bagatellen
2019
Dialogues
2018
Go East! Stravinsky, Brahms, Hindemith & Manav
2017
Herbert Schuch: The OehmsClassics Recordings
2015
Schubert - Janáček
2013
Ullmann: Piano Concerto, Op. 25 - Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3
2012
Sehnsuchtswalzer
2010
Piano Recital: Schuch, Herbert - Schumann, R. / Holliger, H. / Scriabin, A. / Ravel, M. / Mozart, W.A. (Nachtstucke)
2009
Schubert, F.: Piano Sonatas Nos. 4 and 18 / Lachenmann, H.: 5 Variations On A Theme of Franz Schubert / Guero
2007
Schumann: Kreisleriana / Ravel: Miroirs
2005