"With its phenomenal richness of color and high touch, the C. Bechstein Concert Grand D 282 is a delight that every pianist should experience."
Andreas Haefliger
The pianist 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. 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. He has won many plaudits for his Beethoven Perspectives recitals on disc and at major halls and festivals, and is also much sought-after as a chamber musician. A tour of Japan and Europe performing Beethoven sonatas connects him with violinist Hilary Hahn.
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. In the meantime, Haefliger is exclusively under contract with BIS Records, who released 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. His next planned recording will be early Beethoven sonatas for BIS in Autumn 2020.
