Martin Stadtfeld top pianist to play Sheffield

The award-winning soloist comes from one of the industrial heartlands of Germany.

“I live in a working region of coal mining and steel, very much like South Yorkshire,” the Koblenz-born musician told the Advertiser from his home in Germany before flying out.

Tours have taken 34-year-old Martin, who played his first concert aged nine, to venues throughout Europe, the USA and Japan and he has given solo recitals in all major German cities.

Martin will join conductor Sir Mark Elder and the orchestra for Schumann’s poetic Piano Concerto, a passionate work written for the composer’s beloved wife Clara, which he has just finished recording with the Halle.

“I have tried to give it a fresh view of it for the recording — I’m really curious about the results,” he said.

“Working with Sir Mark helped me understand things historically, getting me thinking in an operatic way.

“This was really very useful and I think we both made it quite a new perspective on the piece.

“In the last year I have played Schumann’s music a lot. He is my second favourite composer after Bach, who I love so much.”

The piece starts with an energetic strike by strings and timpani, followed by a fierce, descending attack by the piano.

The movement then opens with a huge run up the strings while the piano takes the main. The piece finishes with a restating of the previous material before finally launching into an exciting finale, and ending with a long timpani roll and a huge chord from the orchestra.

Stadtfeld enrolled at Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts as a teenager. In 2002 he was the first German pianist to win first prize at the 11th International Bach Competition of Leipzig and in 2004 went on to record his debut album — J.S. Bach's 'Goldberg Variations' which subsequently shot to the top of the German Classical Chart and earned him the Echo Classical Award for “Young Artist of the Year.”

Sir Mark Elder, Music Director of the orchestra since 2000, also conducts Elgar’s remarkable Second Symphony - one of the great romantic symphonies and a work Elgar described as “the passionate pilgrimage of the soul.”  

In 1989 he was awarded a CBE and subsequently received a knighthood in 2008. This followed Sir Mark being named “Conductor of the Year” by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2006, an organisation of which he was given an honorary membership to in 2011.

Tickets are available from www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk, in person at our box office and via our ticket hotline on 01142 789789.