The presence of great performers in the Sale Apollinee is also becoming increasingly important: András Schiff plays surprise music on a historic fortepiano, a Blüthner from 1859, arriving from Germany. András Schiff was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1953 and began taking piano lessons at the age of five under the guidance of Elisabeth Vadász. He then continued his studies at the ‘Ferenc Liszt’ Academy with professors Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados, and in London with maestro George Malcolm. András Schiff was appointed Honorary Professor by the Music Schools of Budapest, Detmold and Munich, and Special Adjunct Member of Balliol College (Oxford, Great Britain). In 2001, Maestro Schiff obtained British citizenship, resides in Florence and London, and is married to violinist Yuuko Shiokawa.
On 19 March at 6 p.m. in the Sale Apollinee at La Fenice, he will be awarded the Prize Una vita nella Musica 2024. After Arthur Rubinstein, Mstislav Rostropovič, Claudio Abbado, Karl Böhm, Carlo Maria Giulini, Leonard Bernstein – just to name a few of the musicians who have received the prestigious award, created in 1979 by Bruno Tosi to celebrate the most illustrious personalities of the international music scene and now in its thirty-sixth year – the celebrated Hungarian pianist and conductor naturalised British will be presented with this prestigious recognition, in the context of a free entrance award ceremony. The scientific committee formed by Oreste Bossini, Massimo Contiero, Andrea Estero, Susanna Franchi and Francesca Valente, with Giorgio Pestelli as president, will also award the performers of the Goldberg Quartet, composer Giulia Lorusso and musicologist Valentina Anzani the Premio Una vita nella musica Giovani, a special category dedicated to the new generations, the tenth edition of which is being celebrated this year. The reasons for the awards will be announced during the prize-giving ceremony.
