András Schiff was born in Budapest into a Jewish family in 1953 and began piano lessons at the age of five with Elisabeth Vadasz. He continued his musical studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy with Professor Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados, and in London with George Malcolm.

Schiff emerged in the last decades of the 20th century as one of the most respected pianists of his generation. He is one of the most renowned interpreters of Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Schumann. His many recordings include the complete piano sonatas of Mozart and Schubert and much of the keyboard music of Bach, as well as the complete Beethoven piano concertos.

Schiff plays a Bösendorfer piano rather than the more widely used Steinway, and when possible travels and performs with his own instrument.

In 1999 he formed an occasional chamber orchestra, which he named the Capella Andrea Barca, with the name coming from an Italian translation of his name (Andrea stands for András and Barca and Schiff both mean boat). He has appeared as a conductor with numerous major orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is frequently conducting from the keyboard in concerto concerts.

On January 16, 2011, Schiff told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he had become "persona non grata" in Hungary and would probably never perform there again or even visit his native country, due to political reasons. He is married to violinist Yuuko Shiokawa and resides in London and Florence.

Schiff will play 3 pieces in the Philharmonie next Monday:

Piano Concerto No. 9 "Jeunehomme" in E flat major, K. 271, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in Salzburg in 1777, when Mozart was 21 years old. The work has long been known as the “Jeunehomme” Concerto. It was said that Mozart wrote the piece for a French pianist “Jeunehomme” when she visited Salzburg. But scholars couldn't identify the woman for whom he actually wrote it. Recently, the musicologist Michael Lorenz has argued that the woman was actually Victoire Jenamy (1749-1812), a daughter of Jean-Georges Noverre, a famous dancer who was one of Mozart's best friends.

The Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, D. 125, is a symphony by Franz Schubert composed between 1814 and 1815.

The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Emperor Concerto, was his last piano concerto. It was written between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna, and was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's patron and pupil.

More information and tickets available at www.philharmonie.lu