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The performance will feature many world-renowned soloists, including Robert Holl, Oliver Widmer, Ruth Ziesak, Monica Groop, Lothar Odinius and Carsten Süss. The Hungarian Radio Children's Chorus as well as the National Chorus will also sing in the production, said National Philharmonic Orchestra spokesman Péter Aradi.
Zoltán Kocsis, who usually conducts the National Philharmonic Orchestra, hopes that Schiff will successfully "transplant" his own extraordinarily well researched interpretation of Bach's monumental masterpiece into the orchestra and the choruses, Aradi said.
Schiff studied at Budapest's Music Academy around the same time as Zoltán Kocsis and Desző Ránki, two more great Hungarian pianists. In 1979, at the age of 26, he left Hungary.
He became well known around the world as a soloist and chamber musician. In 1999, he established his own ensemble, the Cappella Andrea Barca, which performed Haydn's Creation, works by Mozart and Bach's St. Matthew Passion at festivals.
In 2000, Schiff performed a three-concert Bach Marathon at New York's Carnegie Hall. In 2004, he played a series of concerts featuring Beethoven's sonatas in cities around the world, including Budapest.
This year, Schiff is performing the works of Béla Bartók with the string quartet of Gábor Takács-Nagy, Zoltán Tuska, Sándor Papp and Miklós Perényi in big cities around Europe.
Schiff has made many critically acclaimed recordings of the works of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Bartók. He is a winner of the Kossuth prize, Hungary's highest award for artists.
Source: Hungarian News Agency
