Andreas Staier

Biography

Andreas Staier was born in Göttingen in 1955. He studied the piano and the harpsichord in Hanover and Amsterdam, then became harpsichordist of the ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln. Since 1986 he has pursued a career as a freelance soloist and has earned an outstanding reputation as both harpsichordist and fortepianist. In the field of chamber music he has had long and fruitful partnerships with such internationally renowned artists as Christoph Prégardien, Anne Sofie von Otter, Pedro Memelsdorff, Alexei Lubimov and Christine Schornsheim. Andreas Staier regularly appears as a soloist in the concerto repertoire with ensembles including Concerto Köln, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées. He is a frequent guest at many of the world’s major concert halls and international music festivals, among them the festivals of La Roque-d’Anthéron, Saintes, Montreux, Styriarte Graz, Schwarzenberg, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik-Festival, the Bach-Fest Leipzig, the Bachtage Berlin and the Bachwoche Ansbach. He has also performed in all the major venues from Berlin to Tokyo.

Many of Andreas Staier’s CD recordings have been distinguished by international awards. In 2002 he was awarded the ‘Ehrenurkunde’ (certificate of honour) of the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, and the French magazine Diapason named him ‘Artist of the Year’ in 2006. In 2007 his Mozart recording ‘am Stein Vis-à-vis’ was awarded a Diapason d’Or of the year. In 2011 his recording of concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was awarded a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. In 2012, his version of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations was awarded a Diapason d’Or Arte, ffff in Télérama, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Disc of the Month in BBC Music Magazine and ‘e de Scherzo’.

In 2013 he won a Gramophone Award for his anthology entitled ‘Pour passer la mélancolie . . .’, and in May 2014 he was voted ‘Artist of the Year’ at the International Classical Music Awards (IMCA).

Andreas Staier has been associate artist at the Opéra de Dijon since September 2011.