Andreas Haefliger was born into a distinguished musical family and grew up in Switzerland, going on to study at the Juilliard School in New York. With his formidable technique and musicality, and his innate sense of architecture and phrasing, he was quickly recognised as a pianist of the first rank. Engagements with major US orchestras followed swiftly – the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Pittsburgh, Chicago and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestras among them. In his native Europe too, Haefliger was invited to the great orchestras and festivals – such as the Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Symphony. He also established himself as a superb recitalist, making his New York debut in 1988, and became frequent performer at premier recital venues and festivals around the world, notably the Lucerne and Salzburg Festivals, the BBC Proms and the Wiener Festwochen.

Most recently, concerto highlights have included Mozart at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St Luke’s, and Beethoven with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Christoph von Dohnanyi at the Royal Festival Hall. He also appeared with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Netherlands Radio Chamber, and his Asia appearances included the Malaysian Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony. In the coming season he plays Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety with the Radiosinfonieorchester Wien at the Vienna Konzerthaus as well as Mozart with the Strasbourg Philharmonic and Brahms in North America.

As a recitalist and chamber musician, Haefliger excels in finding the most immediate expression. He was described in the Guardian after a recent recital at the Wigmore Hall as “…one to take risks, which make him a fascinating artist”, and in an earlier review in the Independent, “there seems to be no limit to the resources of Haefliger’s touch”. Haefliger performed a series of recitals in New York, London and Milan with his late father, the great tenor Ernst Haefliger, in Schubert's Die Winterreise, and in recent years has collaborated with Wolfgang Holzmair, the Takacs Quartet, and his wife, flautist Marina Piccinini. Haefliger was Artistic Consultant to the 2009 Two Moors Festival in Devon (UK), where, besides making music with close colleagues in intimate surroundings, he commissioned two new chamber works by the maverick neo-Romantic German composer Torsten Rasch. He hosted an evening this summer at the La Jolla Chamber Music festival, and this year he has also collaborated extensively with long-standing duo partner Matthias Goerne, at the Salzburg Festival and in Paris, Cologne, Berlin, Barcelona and St Petersburg.

The focus of Haefliger’s solo recital appearances in recent years has been an ongoing series Perspectives on Beethoven in which he performs the complete piano works of Beethoven alongside works by other composers including Mozart, Schubert, Bartók, Brahms, Janáček, Schoenberg and Ligeti. The recital programmes have all been recorded for the Avie label, to widespread critical acclaim. The 4th in the series is released at the start of the 09/10 season, and Haefliger speaks and plays in a new documentary, which explores the thought-processes behind the recording. His UK recital tour in Spring 09 culminates in an appearance at the International Piano Series at the Southbank Centre, and he also takes the programme to Chicago Symphony Hall. Last season’s recitals included a sell-out at the Wigmore Hall.

After the enormous success of his first recording of Mozart Sonatas for Sony Classical, Haefliger made three further recordings for Sony of Schumann’s Davidsbündlertanze and Fantasiestücke, Schubert Impromptus, and a disc of music by Sofia Gubaidulina. Later Haefliger recorded for Decca with the Takacs Quartet and Matthias Goerne, the latest Goerne/Haefliger release of Schubert’s Goethe Lieder being awarded a Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

Andreas Haefliger is represented by Intermusica.

November 2009 / 645 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.

Sample Concerto Repertoire

Conductor Relationships

Donald Runnicles, James Conlon, Osmo Vänska, Andreas Delfs, Hans Graf, Jan Pascal Tortelier, Mark Elder, Matthias Bamert, Richard Hickox, Heinrich Schiff, Claus Peter Flor, Ingo Metzmacher, Thierry Fischer, Gerard Schwarz, Martyn Brabbins, Christian Thielemann, Hugh Wolff, Paavo Berglund, Leonard Slatkin, Roberto Abbado

Sample Recital Programmes

2008/9
JANACEK Sonata 1.X.1905 From the Street
BEETHOVEN Sonata in C major, Op. 53 "Waldstein"
****
BEETHOVEN Sonata Op.78 in F sharp major
BRAHMS Sonata in F sharp minor, Op.2

Summer 2009
MOZART Sonata in C KV 330
JANACEK Sonata 1.X.1905 From the Street
MOZART Sonata in A KV 331
****
BRAHMS Sonata in F sharp minor, Op.2

2009/10
MOZART Sonata in C KV 330
WAGNER/LISZT Isolde's Liebestod
MOZART Sonata in A KV 331
****
SCHUBERT Sonata in B flat major, D960

2010/11
Programme 1
LISZT Années de Pelerinage
****
SCHUBERT Sonata No.18 in G major, D.894

Programme 2
BEETHOVEN Sonata No.4 in E flat major, Op.7
LISZT Vallées d’Obermann
****
SCHUBERT Sonata No.18 in G major, D.894
or
BRAHMS Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5

Encores:
LISZT Au bord d’une source
LISZT Orage

Programme 3
BEETHOVEN Sonata No.4 in E flat major, Op.7
SCHOENBERG Three Piano Pieces, Op.11
****
LISZT Sonata in B minor
or
SCHUBERT Sonata No.18 in G major, D.894

Encore
LISZT Six Little Piano Pieces, Op.19

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Mozart with with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg / Claus Peter Flor
“The soloist, Andreas Haefliger, understands how to resist the temptation of many pianists to ingratiate themselves with the public by overwhelming them with technical brilliance. He was much more concerned with the greater artistic picture…His brilliance lay in his subtle feeling for shading, without the need for exaggeration…One could almost grasp hold of the humanity in this interpretation - something which these days has almost disappeared from the stage, but which Haefliger illuminated as though from another dimension.”
Michaela Preiner, European Cultural News, February 2010

"Haefliger puts his fabulous technique purely at the service of the most intimate musical expression.
In collaboration with the orchestra he gave a wonderful interpretation of all three movements, and the virtuosic, searching cadenzas emphasised this overall impression. Enthusiastic applause was met with an encore which, again, was deeply sensitive. “
Badene Neueste Nachrichten, February 2010

"soloist Andreas Haefliger knew how to find the essence of the music, but also lent his own specialinspiration to the middle Andante movement. And in the Adagio which he played as an encore, he communicated this more tortured music from Mozart's later works, playing it with the same beautiful musicality.”
Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, February 2010

Beethoven, Brahms and Janáček / “Perspectives 4” (Avie)
“Andreas Haefliger’s project of recording the Beethoven Sonatas within the context of other piano literature seems to be reaping fascinating results…

In the Janáček Haefliger not only conveys the personal grief that underlines the music, but also its boldness and modernism – features which in many respects can be linked to the innovations that colour Beethoven’s middle period. Likewise, although his approach to the first and third movements of the Waldstein is suitably strong and propulsive, Haefliger imbues the slow movement with an unexpected sense of melancholy, suggesting a parallel sense of loss to that which inspired Janáček…

In Op. 78 the crystal-clear recording serves to emphasize the beautifully veiled and delicate timbre which Haefliger achives in the rushing semiquaver passages…But perhaps the most striking playing of all comes in the Brahms where Haefliger delivers an interpretation of formidable granitic strength that nonetheless manages to encapsulate the work’s more introspective and poetic aspects.”
BBC Music Magazine, Disc of the Month, Christmas 2009 issue

“Very few of Haefliger’s colleagues approach his attainments as a Beethoven player. His scrupulous observance of every indication in the score seems an article of faith, without impugning spontaneity or narrative flow. He internalizes the stylistic idiosyncrasies of each piece so thoroughly that Beethoven’s most unorthodox figurations, harmonic progressions and expressive strategies sound not only completely natural, but inevitable.

Without losing sight of the elegiac thrust of this heartfelt threnody, Haefliger plumbs the richly atmospheric textures of Janáček’s mature piano style.

These deeply affecting and intellectually stimulating performances will only enhance Andreas Haefliger’s reputation as one of the most refined, thoughtful and probative pianists before the public today. Very highly recommended.”
International Record Review, January 2010

Schubert Winterreise / Wolfgang Holzmair
“The understated gentleness of Haefliger’s accompaniment in which he dared to do less to spectacular effect was heightened and highlighted by the occasional emphatic outbursts of Die Post and Der Sturmische Morgen…with the ever-present support of Haefliger [Holzmair] produced a rendering of this most familiar of cycles that was deeply unsettling – in the best possible way.”
The Oxford Times, 21 October 2009

“Holzmair and Haefliger presented the work as full-blooded drama and with wide-ranging emotions… Haefliger’s piano tone for the softer passages and sharp fortes for more dramatic words or phrases had been meticulously thought out and planned, but was always delivered with both passion and conviction.
The last song in particular, “Der Leiermann” (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man) started with a evocative piano introduction from Haefliger, who produced the bell-like sounds evoking the stillness of the hard winter’s day with the old Hurdy-Gurdy man playing his music, while Holzmair brought out all of the true pathos and despair of this final song which ended with a full minute or so of silence from the enraptured audience – who then gave the artists a well-deserved standing ovation.”
Seen and Heard International, 20 October 2009

An Evening with Andreas Haefliger and Michael York / La Jolla SummerFest
“Haefliger is a marvelous pianist who can coax an infinite variety of tone qualities from his instrument…In Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Haefliger got free rein. The sustained buildup over a long-spun crescendo from the murmuring tremelos of the opening to the thundering apotheosis of the climax was truly astonishing.”
Classical Music Review, 14 August 2009

Lieder by Wolf and Liszt with Matthias Goerne / Salzburger Festspiele
“A Liederabend of rare quality…Haefliger’s accounts were full of revealing detail… I was especially taken with [his] unsettling syncopation in the second of the Harfenspieler songs from Goethe. It was all the more unsettling for its subtlety, its lack of exaggeration.
..An ecstatic richness of tone in both parts, initiated by the Creative act, culminated in the defiance of ‘Herr, laß uns kämpfen, laß uns siegen!’ (‘Lord, let us fight, let us triumph!’) That is certainly what Goerne and Haefliger accomplished in this recital.”
Seen and Heard International, August 2009

Wigmore Hall / Janacek, Beethoven & Brahms
“…a memorable Wigmore occasion - as was the Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger’s recital a few days earlier. He is a musician evidently at the peak of his powers. Janacek’s two-movement Sonata I.X.1905, an elegy for a youth murdered in a Czech nationalist protest, was equally searing and exquisite. Beethoven’s Waldstein sonata was immaculately realised, vigorously thought through, with a perfectly moderated allegretto tempo for the finale; and in the second half Beethoven’s subtle little F sharp sonata, a full-dress, four-movement structure, but coming across in this masterly account as a dramatic unity."
Paul Driver, Sunday Times, November 2008

'Perpectives 3' / Beethoven & Schubert
"Listeners who've followed Andreas Haefliger's solid virtuosity and serious, thoughtful musicianship will find no surprises here... Haefliger's innate affinity for Beethoven's Op 28 Sonata manifests itself via the pianist's relaxed tempi and ample tone. Taste and proportion govern his penchant for rhetorical broadenings and tenuti... he Appassionata’s outer movements achieve a happy fusion of drama, cumulative sweep and textural clarity.”
Gramophone Magazine, June 2008

“Zuhörer, die Andreas Haefligers solide Virtuosität und ernsthafte, durchdachte Musikalität verfolgt haben, werden hier nicht überrascht sein. Seine Neigung zu rhetorischen Verbreiterungen und Tenuti werden von Geschmack und Sinn für Proportionen bestimmt. Die Außensätze seiner „Appassionata“ erfreuen durch eine gelungene Fusion von Dramatik, Spannungsbogen und Klarheit der Textur.”
Gramophone Magazine, June 2008

“The ultimate praise of Haefliger’s technical equipment might be that one is simply never aware of it; one hears only beautiful, fluent music-making, unimpeded by the physical. My avoidance of comparisons in this review is deliberate. It seems to me that, among the more interesting contemporary pianists assaying the Viennese classical canon, Andreas Haefliger is in a class all his own.”
International Record Review, April 2008

“Das höchste Lob für Andreas Haefligers Technik könnte sein, dass man sich ihrer einfach niemals bewusst ist; man hört nur von Körperlichem ungestörte, wunderbare, fließende Musik. Mir scheint, dass Haefliger unter den interessanteren Pianisten, die sich heute den Kanon der Wiener Klassik vornehmen, eine eigene Kategorie beansprucht.”
International Record Review, April 2008

Konzerthausorchester Berlin & Gilbert Varga / Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5
“Haefliger never attacks the piece too directly, and this pianist has few competitors musically to fear in this generation.”
Berliner Zeitung, May 2008

“an Musikalität hat dieser Pianist heute in seiner Generation wenig Konkurrenz zu befürchten”
Berliner Zeitung, May 2008

“…Andreas Haefliger added great meaning with his nimble-fingered playing. This was faultless music making without exaggeration or personal quirks, truly at the service of Beethoven.”
Berliner Morgenpost, May 2008

“... Haefliger fügte seine fingerfertige Klavierkunst aufs verständnisinnigste ein. Es setzte, im Dienst an Beethoven, ein tadelloses Musizieren ohne Übertreibungen und interpretatorische Privatinteressen.”
Berliner Morgenpost, May 2008

Philharmonia Orchestra and Christoph von Dohnányi / Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3
"Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto brought an outstanding partnership with the Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger. Having heard Dohnányi accommodate himself to various ‘star’ pianists in this concerto, with Haefliger one had by contrast the satisfying sense of a genuine marriage of musical minds. Like Alfred Brendel (with whom Dohnányi collaborated in this work last year), Haefliger is a player with a fine sense of classical style, clean without being prissy, dovetailing beautifully in his exchanges with the orchestra yet able to touch on deeper things as in the solo with which the Largo begins which stole in with an almost improvisatory feel. The finale had a dry wit, full of character yet avoiding any hint of overstatement. Dohnányi pounced in cat-like style at the danger-point in the coda."
Classical Source.com, April 2008

Lucerne Piano Festival / Beethven & Schubert recital
“Den persönlichsten Eindrunk unter den erstmals am Piano-Festival auftretenden Pianisten hinterliess gestern Morgen im Konzertsaal Andreas Haefliger. Das Ereignis war hier die feinen Zwischentöne in Schuberts verloren kreisender letzten Sonate.“
Neue Luzerner Zeitung, November 2007

BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Beethoven
"... with Haefliger indulging Beethoven's romantic lyricism, this was a refreshingly different interpretation."
The Guardian, June 2007

Vienna Musikverein / Tonkünstlerorchester Orchester / Ravel
"The solo part was played with excellent technique and shaping by Andreas Haefliger."
Kurier, June 2007

Beethoven, Bartok and Brahms / Avie “Perspectives 2”
"The fabulous Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger plays works by Bártok, Beethoven and Brahms under the title ‘Perspectives 2” (on 2 CDs). He is always coherent and technically excellent. Brahms sonata in F minor is especially worth a listen."
Wiener Kurier, May 2007

“Der ausgezeichnete Schweizer Pianist Andreas Haefliger spielt unter dem Titel “Perspectives 2” (auf zwei CD’s) Werke von Bártok, Beethoven, und Brahms. Stets stimmig, technisch exzellent. Vor allem die f-Moll-Sonate von Brahms lohnt das Hören.”
Wiener Kurier, May 2007

Beethoven, Bartok and Brahms / Avie "Perspectives 2"
"Perspectives 2 reflects Haefliger's thoughtfulness in programme-building, as well as his musicianship and selfless virtuosity. He conceives Beethoven's Sonata No 27 on a large scale, with pronounced dynamic contrasts and rhetorical underpinnings... Haefliger colours the main theme's decorative manifestation with exquisite shadings...
…His mastery in Bartók's Out of Doors suite comes as no surprise: notice in the finale how he his animated left hand clarifies the music's polyrhythmic momentum...moments abound where Haefliger gives in to Brahms's unbridled energy: listen to him gather steam en route to the finale's coda and simply let things rip."
Gramophone Magazine, June 2006

"…the Brahms Piano Sonata No.3, given a splendidly sonorous, magisterial performance of great distinction."
Classic FM Magazine, May 2006

"A towering performance of Brahms' massive F minor Sonata sounds as revolutionary as everything that has gone before. Quirky, tremendous and highly recommended."
The Guardian, March 2006

Vienna Symphony Orchestra / Schumann
"…Andreas Haefliger created dreamlike moments at the keyboard with his soft, magical touch, playing romantically without gliding into the sentimental."
Vorarlberger Nachrichten, August 2005

BBC Symphony Orchestra / Grieg
"The welcome soloist was Andreas Haefliger, whose easy command of the keyboard meant that lyricism shone through even in the most technically demanding moments. He floated a dreamy line in the adagio and brought out the finale's dancing rhythm."
The Times, May 2005

Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Brahms
"The fabulous Andreas Haefliger was soloist in this Thursday concert and offered a brilliant piano performance, a steely will and Johannes Brahms in the style of Beethoven...One moment he is pushing the music forward with determination, in the next he's creeping right under the skin of the notes, with an intensity that almost makes time stand still. One minute he is intently watching what the orchestra is doing, the next he is leaning back listening to the music with relaxed concentration. In this sense, he's a man of extremes. But he's also a musician with such good taste and sense of form that his music never seems eccentric or posturing."
BerlingskeTidende, October 2004

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at BBC Proms / Beethoven
"Haefliger maintained refinement, eloquence and perspective, with a wonderful capacity for hushed, mellow playing that was not only right for the musical context but also utterly spellbinding. This was the most completely enjoyable performance of the Proms so far."
The Daily Telegraph, July 2004

Mozart Piano Sonatas / Avie
"These are exquisite performances, beautifully recorded, of Mozart's last four sonatas… Haefliger's playing is unmannered, crystal-clear in figuration and poetic in phrasing."
The Sunday Telegraph, October 2003

"… this is always intelligent, deeply musical playing that will appeal to those who like their Mozart crisp, clear-eyed and athletic."
The Daily Telegraph, October 2003

In recital / Schubert, Beethoven, Ades and Mozart "Haefliger really understands the art of putting together an intelligent and sensitive programme. ... The middle movement [of the Beethoven] was full of lyricism, and with the final movement he returned to the mood of the start, playing everything clearly and with control. …He played the Allegro with clear strength and brilliance, and after creating an unbelievable tension in the Adagio, he let the Allegretto follow with an almost playful jollity. And technically? A work of Swiss precision!"
Wiener Zeitung, May 2003

"Haefliger is one to take risks, which make him a fascinating artist…Haefliger then simply let the Mozart Sonata flow out of Adès's irresolution, lifting us from grief to serenity…"
The Guardian, April 2003

Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester, Munich / Grieg
"Andreas Haefliger played the solo part with the necessary technical perfection and gave energetic momentum through his organic, never arbitrary rubato"
Münchner Merker, February 2003

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These are featured projects related to Andreas Haefliger:

Perspectives
Perspectives describes Andreas Haefliger's creative approach to programming, both in concert and for recordings. In recital Haefliger seeks to explore Beethoven's piano music as well as the music of composers who influenced, or were influenced by Beethoven - composers such as Mozart, Brahms, Janácek and Ligeti. Haefliger's Perspectives programmes are also being recorded for Avie Records and have received great critical acclaim. On this page you...