Andreas Bach - San Antonio Symphony

Biography Andreas Bach
“There is a deep conviction in everything he does, conveyed with a strong and accurate
technique. Most of all, one feels the music is being generated from within, with a total
absence of superficial effect.”
Richard Goode
“Without doubt Andreas Bach is one of the outstanding pianists of our time- a strong
fellow combatant for the future of piano -and chamber music.”
Lars Vogt
“I already know Andreas Bach since a long time and with great pleasure I have played
concerts together with him. He is a passionate musician and a fantastic pianist both in
the solo-as well as in the chamber-musical sector.”
Christian Tetzlaff
Andreas Bach is considered to be one of the most outstanding German pianists of his
generation.
Beginning at the age of seven he started to win a variety of German competitions, for
example twice the Steinway-competition in Hamburg. 1984 he was awarded at the
second Eurovision Competition, which was broadcasted throughout Europe and where he
represented the Federal Republic of Germany. 1985 he was awarded the Bernhardt-
Sprengel-Prize for Music and 1987 he received the Bruno-Leonardo-Gelber-Prize. One
year earlier he was rewarded from Munich newspaper „TZ“ with the prize for the best
musical event in Munich of the year 1986.
During a long period of his earlier youth he studied with the famous piano teacher Karl-
Heinz Kämmerling where he also began his regular conservatory studies. Later he
changed to Pavel Gililov finishing his exams in Cologne/Germany. During this period
meetings and lessons especially with Claudio Arrau, but also with Rudolf Serkin,

Svjatoslav Richter and Lazar Berman during this period determined Mr. Bachs artistic
path.
In 1987 Andreas Bach went on tour to the United States for the first time and he
celebrated unusually successful debuts for example in New York, Chicago and San
Francisco. In summer 88 he debuted in Washington and at the Aspen Music Festival.The
biggest newspapers of the country celebrated his play with partly hymnic reviews, so did
the NY times, the Chicago tribune or the Washington Post. Until Spring 1992 he returned
to the States regularly for all in all 13 tours throughout the country and Canada.
During that time Andreas Bach appeared with major US orchestras such as the Seattle
Symphony Qrchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony and the St. Pauls
Chamber Orchestra. His solo appearances equally lead him to major concert series for
example at Kennedy Centre Washington, at the 92nd street Y, the Metropolitan Museum
concert series and the Morgan library series in New York and the Symphony Hall in
Chicago.
In January 1988 he gave his Debut in Japan with concerts in Tokyo, Yokohama and
Sapporo.The same year Mr. Bach was soloist under Wolfgang Sawallisch in the National
Theatre of Munich playing Tchaikovsky s first piano concerto. He also debuted with the
Bamberger Symphoniker conducted by Horst Stein.
Within Germany Andreas Bach has already appeared in the biggest music centers. So he
regularly gave concerts in the Herkulessaal of Munich, in the Musikhalle Hamburg or the
Alte Oper Frankfurt.Within Europe his concert tours lead him beneath others to following
places: Paris, Lausanne, Zürich, Basel, Geneva, Monte Carlo, Venice, Reykjavik, Lisbon.
After that time he had had appearances for example with the Festival Orchestra of
Luzern together with Milan Horvat, in the Berlin Philharmonic Building under Konrad
Latte, in Lausanne with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, , also he played with the
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande or with the NDR Symphony Orchestra. Conductors with
which he worked were for example Gert Albrecht, Donald Runnicles and Peter Gülke.
In 2001, he was asked to present a Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Evening at the residence of
the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Johannes Rau. Also at that time,
the famous critic Joachim Kaiser suggested him together with Till Fellner and Alfredo
Perl for the important Premio dell Academia Chigiana di Siena, which had also been
given before to musicians like Jevgenij Kissin.
Since many years the preoccupation with Bartok forms an important part of Bachs
musical work. Following the publication of his first Bartok CD in 2004, in 2008, the
work on the complete recording of his piano pieces began. The recordings will appear in
Cooperation with the WDR, Germany s most important broadcasting station and the
renowned label OehmsClassics. Also a tour together with the leading Hungaraian folk
music group “Muzsikas” (they appeared already in Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall), is
being planned including an appearance 2011 in Londons Royal Festival Hall. In this
program authentic folk melodies, collected by Bartok himself, will be combined with
original piano works.

For Andreas Bach chamber music has been a major concern since a long time, showing in
regular cooperations with renowned musicians such as Christian Tetzlaff, Daniel Hope,
Gustav Rivinius, Jana Bouskova, Alfredo Perl or recently the star percussionsist Martin
Grubinger. His participation in chamber music festivals such as the Heimbach Music
Festival “Spannungen” or the Marlboro Music Festival is evidence of Bachs strong
interest in a lively exchange and joint work with other artists.
Since his highly successful debut at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile in 2001
regular tours, also together with other artists such as Alfredo Perl, lead him to Latin
America. Also in the meantime the pianist has made his debut to China with great success
in 2005. Another trip followed 2007, and also in 2008 Andreas Bach returned to China to
appear in the biggest musical centres such as Beijing, Huangzhou or Shanghai. Bachs
debut at the worlds biggest piano music festival, the Klavierfestival Ruhr, was very
successfully held in 2007.
Since 2006, Andreas Bach participates alongside with musicians such as Alban Gerhardt,
Tabea Zimmermann, Leiv-Ove Andsnes, or Julia Fischer in the project “Rhapsody-in-
School”, which was initiated by Lars Vogt and which plays an important role in Germany
in passing on the enthusiasm for classical music to the next generation by directly visiting
schools.
Before the initiative of the complete recording of Bartoks piano works, starting in 2008,
Bachs last CD (with works by Bartok) has been come out in 2005 (OehmsClassics). So
far there have already appeared two CDs with works by Schumann and Beethoven with
Novalis and another two recordings with works by Schumann and Brahms with Arte
Nova/OehmsClassics. In addition the concert recording of the trio for piano, bassoon and
oboe by Poulenc (with Dag Jensen and Christian Wetzel) from the Chamber Music
Festival Heimbach was chosen by EMI for a CD summary of this event.