For the past 25 years Heinrich Schiff has performed with all the leading orchestras in the major halls and music festivals in Europe, USA and Japan. He has worked with many of the leading conductors such as Abbado, Celibidache, Colin Davis, Dohnanyi, Eschenbach, Gielen, Haitink, Harnoncourt, Jansons, Masur, Salonen, Sawallisch, Sinopoli,Tennstedt and Welser-Möst.
Contemporary music plays an important part in his artistic work. He has collaborated, commissioned and performed many works of major contemporary composers such as Berio, Casken, Cerha, Gielen, Henze, Krenek, Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Rihm and Zender.
He has recorded all the major works of the cello repertoire ranging from Vivaldi and Haydn to Lutoslawki and Zimmermann. Apart from his prize-winning Bach Solo Suites (EMI) and Shostakovich concertos (Philips), which won the Grand Prix du Disque, Schiff has also recorded the Dvorak cello concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic (Previn), the Schumann concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Haitink), and the Brahms Double Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Sawallisch (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis). In 2000 Philips released the complete works for cello and piano by Beethoven with Till Fellner to huge critical acclaim.
For the last 15 years Heinrich Schiff has dedicated half his artistic activities to conducting. He has conducted major orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Dresden Staatskapelle, Munich Philharmonic among many others. He has also held positions as Chief and Principal Guest Conductor with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Northern Sinfonia, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Stuttgart Radio and Musikkollegium Winterthur.
Heinrich Schiff plays ‘The Mara’ (Stradivarius 1711) and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ (Montagnana 1739).
