+creating musical independence
in View of Heinrich Schiffs Vision
making Music since 2011,
playing concerts since 2013
Heinrich Schiff
Cellist · Conductor
Working with Heinrich Schiff 2013-16
During our first three seasons, the renowned cellist and conductor Heinrich Schiff (1951–2016) worked closely with the View Orchestra, preparing the orchestra for its performances.
He embraced the Orchestra’s collaborative spirit and encouraged the initiative of its young musicians, who had come together with the shared conviction that music could inspire meaningful social and cultural change.
Heinrich Schiff (1951-2016)
Heinrich Schiff performed on two renowned instruments: the Stradivarius cello “La Mara” (1711) and the Montagnana “The Sleeping Beauty” (1739).
Throughout his distinguished career, he collaborated with some of the world’s leading conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Sergiu Celibidache, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Gielen, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Klaus Tennstedt and Franz Welser-Möst.
Alongside his multiple award-winning recordings of Bach’s Cello Suites and Shostakovich’s Cello Concertos—the latter earning him the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque—Schiff recorded, among others, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under André Previn, and Schumann’s Cello Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink.
His career was also marked by close collaboration with leading contemporary composers, including Luciano Berio, John Casken, Friedrich Cerha, Hans Werner Henze, Ernst Krenek, Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Matthias Pintscher, Wolfgang Rihm and Hans Zender. At the 2006 Salzburg Festival, Schiff performed Johannes Maria Staud’s new work Segue with the Vienna Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim. In 2005, again with the Vienna Philharmonic, he gave the world premiere of Otto M. Zykan’s Cello Concerto Beethovens Cello, conducted by Zubin Mehta.
At the 2008 Salzburg Easter Festival, Schiff appeared as soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle in Dvořák’s Cello Concerto. In June that year, he joined the Alban Berg Quartet on its farewell tour, performing Schubert’s C Major String Quintet, and in July he performed Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert.
As a conductor, Schiff regularly led major international ensembles, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Oslo Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Munich Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg and the Vienna Symphony.
