Haefliger was born into a distinguished Swiss musical family and grew up in Germany, going on to study at the Juilliard School in New York. He was quickly recognised as a pianist of the first rank, and 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 has appeared with 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 is well recognised as a superb recitalist, making his New York debut in 1988. He has ongoing regular relationships with the Lucerne and Edinburgh Festivals, Vienna Konzerthaus, and other major halls across North America and Asia. Together with violinist Hilary Hahn he will perform Beethoven sonatas on tour in Japan and Europe in 2021/22.
Haefliger is a regular visitor to London’s Wigmore Hall with his 'Perspectives' series, in which he performs the complete piano works of Beethoven alongside works by other composers from Mozart to Ligeti. This series has formed the focus of Haefliger’s solo recital appearances and recordings in recent years, the latest CD being volume 7 of the series, released by BIS in 2018.
Haefliger was in a cabin in the Swiss Alps when Coronavirus struck in March 2020. Even though regretting the concerts he could no longer play (which included Beethoven with the Philharmonia and Esa Pekka Salonen, a concerto tour to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing, and festival appearances in Edinburgh, Luzern and Chicago) – he used this period of enforced reflection to work on Beethoven’s monumental Hammerklavier Sonata op.106, culminating in an art movie of his performance and the Alpine surroundings. The film is being taken up by cinemas and TV stations and received its world premiere streaming at the Aspen Festival 2020 in place of his planned live recital.
This Autumn BIS Records (with whom Haefliger has an exclusive contract) release the world premiere recording of Dieter Ammann’s Gran Toccata with Susanna Malkki and the Helsinki Philharmonic, coupled with concerti by Bartok and Ravel. Haefliger gave the first live performance of the Ammann at the BBC Proms 2019 with the BBC Symphony and Sakari Oramo, closely followed by the North American premiere with the Boston Symphony and Susanna Malkki. It was co-commissioned for Haefliger by Boston together with the Wiener Konzerthaus, Munich Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival and Taipei Symphony.
Haefliger began his career with Sony Classical recording Mozart sonatas followed by Schumann Davidsbündlertanze and Fantasiestücke, Schubert Impromptus, and music by Sofia Gubaidulina. Later Haefliger recorded for Decca with the Takács Quartet and also Matthias Goerne, winning the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for their disc of Schubert Goethe Songs. His next planned recording will be early Beethoven sonatas for BIS in Autumn 2020.
Andreas Haefliger is represented by Intermusica.
2020/21 season / 538 words. Not to be altered without permission.