Heinrich Schiff

Austrian cellist and conductor Heinrich Schiff was born at Gmunden on 18 November 1951.

As a cellist, he studied with Tobias Kühne and André Navarra. He played the 'Mara' Stradivarius of 1711 and Montagnana's 'Sleeping Beauty' (Venice, 1739). He won prizes for his recordings of the Bach Cello Suites, Shostakovich concertos and the Brahms Double Concerto (with Frank Peter Zimmermann). His students included Gautier Capuçon, Natalie Clein, Richard Harwood and Rudi Spring.

He studied conducting with Hans Swarowsky. He was artistic director of the Northern Sinfonia (1990-96), recording with them on Collins Classics, and was chief conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra (1996-1999), the Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur (1995-2001) and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra (2005-2008).

Heinrich Schiff died in Vienna on 23 December 2016, aged sixty-five.

All material © 1998-2023 Classical Music Daily,
various authors and photographers.
All rights of the original copyright holders
are reserved, and are credited where known.
Formerly known as Music & Vision –
The world's first daily classical music magazine
Founding Editor: Basil Ramsey (1929-2018);
Editor: Keith Bramich