Andreas Staier

Widely admired as a harpsichord and fortepiano player, Andreas Staier has been a leading light in the world of Baroque music since first embarking on a solo career in the mid-1980s, and is renowned not only for his expertise of the great composers but also for discovering old Spanish harpsichord pieces and English ballads.

Born in Gottingen, Germany, he studied piano at the Hannover Music Conservatory and then in Amsterdam with Ton Koopman and Gustav Leonhardt, before cutting his teeth with the early music ensemble Musica Antiqua Koln, who performed compositions from the 17th and 18th century. He left the group to specialise in the harpsichord and fortepiano, and performed as a soloist across Europe, North America and Japan before recording his debut album 'Winterreise' in 1989, featuring interpretations of Franz Schubert's song cycles.

He also turned his hand to chamber music and the Classical and Romantic periods, and recorded sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert as well as concertos by Felix Mendelssohn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johannes Brahms. His later recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Goldberg Variations' in 2010 and Ludwig van Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations' in 2012 challenged the orthodox thinking of the compositions by the great composers, and he continues to be an unconventional musical force, working closely with tenor Christoph Pregardien, leading the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and using obscure instruments.