Henri Sigfridsson

Henri Sigfridsson, born in Turku, Finland (1974), winner of the Second Prize of the Zurich Geza Anda Piano competition 2000, not only impressed the Jury under the chairmanship of Vladimir Ashkenazy, he won the hearts of many members of the public who attended the final concert in the Zurich Tonhalle, and he walked off with the Geza Anda Audience Prize. In 2005 he won the First Prize at the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Bonn, where he got the Audience Prize and Chamber Music Prize as well.

He began studying with Savy Nordgren at the Turku Conservatory and later at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (Prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna). He completed his studies at the Musikhochschule Köln with the highest distinction (Prof. Pavel Gililov). 1995-97 he studied at the Franz Liszt Musikhochschule in Weimar (Prof. Lazar Berman) as well.

Besides of the Geza Anda Competition Henri Sigfridsson was awarded the renowned ABOA Culture Prize in Finland, first prizes at the 1994 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar and at the 1995 “Nordic Soloist Competition”.

As a soloist Sigfridsson has played with the leading Finnish orchestras and numerous orchestras in Europe, including the MDR Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonics, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg under the baton of prestigious conductors such as Georg Alexander Albrecht, Vladimir Askenazy, Alexander Lazarev, Beat Furrer, Dennis Russel Davies, Lawrence Foster, Howard Shelley, Volker Schmidt-Gertenbach.

He has made notable debuts at the Bayreuth Music Festival, the Ruhr Piano Festival, Wigmore Hall London, all over Europe and the US (New York, Chicago and at the Ravinia Festival). Since 2000 Henri Sigfridsson has been regularly invited to Japan. Sigfridsson performed at very prestigious festivals like the Augsburg Mozart Week, the St. Petersburg Musical Olympus Festival, the Krakow Piano Festival, the Heidelberg Festival, the Kissinger Sommer Festival, the Interlaken Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Davos Festival, the Styriarte Festival, the Lockenhaus Festival and the Salzburg Festival. And since 2006 he has been invited as a Jury to Liszt Piano Competition.

Henri Sigfridsson feels a very deep commitment to chamber music. He appeared with Leonidas Kavakos, Gidon Kremer, Ivry Gitlis, Mischa Maisky, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sol Gabetta, Johannes Moser to name a few.

Henri Sigfridsson has a number of recordings including the Piano Concertos of F.X. Mozart. And for the memorable year of Sibelius, he released Sibelius Piano Transcriptions. In addition the Piano Concertos no. 2 and no. 3 of Rachmaninov have been released with Hänssler Classic.

2008-2009 Henri Sigfridsson had a professorship at the Graz University for Music and Dramatic Arts and 2010 – 2012 at the Musikhochschule “Hans Eisler” in Berlin. In 2011 he was appointed Professor in Essen Folkwang University.