Andreas Staier
Andreas Staier is one of the foremost authentic-instrument keyboard players in the classical music world. He has performed with many of the world's top historical instrument ensembles and performers and has toured and recorded extensively.
Staier was born on September 13, 1955, in Göttingen, then in West Germany. His early training was on the modern piano. Courses in realizing continuo parts in Baroque music at the Hannover Conservatory led him to study harpsichord. He continued his studies in Amsterdam, where his primary teachers in harpsichord and early music were Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and Ton Koopman. His interest in the fortepiano began when he discovered the difference in sound and interpretation that results when that instrument is used for playing composers contemporary with it, especially Mozart and Beethoven.
In 1983, Staier joined Musica Antiqua Köln as its harpsichord player, then resigned from the ensemble in 1986 to embark on his solo career on both harpsichord and fortepiano (and, on occasion, clavichord). He also began teaching at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where he was on the faculty from 1987 to 1996. Staier's recording debut came in 1989 on the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label with the album Bach: Clavierfantasien.
His recital programs and recordings include the standard Baroque composers, but also earlier music and Spanish keyboard works. He looks for important links among compositions of various eras. He waited nearly a quarter of a century to play the Goldberg in public; his long-awaited first performance of it was in Montréal at the end of April 2000. Staier has performed in major festivals and most of the major concert halls of the world and has toured throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and South America.
Staier frequently works with other renowned artists, including Anner Bylsma, Tatiana Grindenko, René Jacobs, and various important early music ensembles. One of his closest partnerships is with tenor Christoph Prégardien, who sings with him in the early Romantic repertory. Their recording of Schubert's Winterreise on Teldec won six major international recording prizes. In 2007, Staier won the prestigious Diapason d'Or award for his album Mozart am Stein vis-à-vis, played not on a harpsichord nor a fortepiano but on an instrument called a vis-à-vis that is a hybrid of the two. Recording for Harmonia Mundi, Staier maintained a vigorous schedule in the 2010s and into the 2020s. In 2015, he released a group of Brahms clarinet sonatas with Lorenzo Coppola, bringing his historical practice into the late 19th century: he used an 1875 Steinway piano that Brahms was known to have liked. He also continued to make acclaimed harpsichord recordings, including a 2015 set of Bach harpsichord concertos in which he was teamed with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Staier remained active during the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing Bach's complete Well-Tempered Clavier and, on the Alpha label, the Baroque recital Méditation in 2024. By that time, his recording catalog comprised some 80 items.
© Joseph Stevenson & James Manheim /TiVo
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Schubert : Fantasie in F Minor & Other Piano Duets
Andreas Staier and Alexander Melnikov
Chamber Music - Released by harmonia mundi on Mar 17, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jan 6, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Nov 19, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Schubert : Piano Trios, Op. 99 & 100
Andreas Staier, Daniel Sepec and Roel Dieltiens
Trios - Released by harmonia mundi on Sep 23, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin, Schwanengesang & Winterreise
Andreas Staier, Christoph Prégardien, Michael Gees
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on May 7, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Méditation
Classical - Released by Alpha Classics on Feb 2, 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : Ein neuer Weg
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Mar 13, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J. S. Bach: Harpsichord Concertos, BWV 1052-1058
Andreas Staier and Freiburger Barockorchester
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Aug 19, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Goldberg Variationen
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Feb 23, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludwig van Beethoven : Variations Diabelli
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on May 15, 2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Impromptus op.142, Sonata D894 (Andreas Staier)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Apr 21, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: The Keyboard Sonatas
Christine Schornsheim, Andreas Staier
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on Feb 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach Privat
Andreas Staier, Anna Lucia Richter, Petra Müllejans, Roel Dieltiens
Chamber Music - Released by Alpha Classics on Sep 1, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
C. P. E. Bach: The Keyboard Concertos, Wq 43
Andreas Staier, Freiburger Barockorchester, Petra Müllejans
Concertos - Released by harmonia mundi on Mar 29, 2011
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schwanengesang and songs after Seidl
Christoph Prégardien, Andreas Staier
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on Jan 1, 2008
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Cello Sonatas, Op. 102, Bagatelles, Opp. 119 & 126
Andreas Staier, Roel Dieltiens
Chamber Music - Released by harmonia mundi on Jun 10, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Sonates pour piano (Andreas Staier)
Chamber Music - Released by harmonia mundi on Feb 6, 2005
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
À Portuguesa
Andreas Staier, Orquestra barroca Casa da Música
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Oct 19, 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Piano Concertos
Andreas Staier, Freiburger Barockorchester, Gottfried von der Goltz
Concertos - Released by harmonia mundi on Jan 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 9 & 17
Concertos - Released by Warner Classics International on Sep 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Sonatas
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jun 12, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo