Heinrich Schiff was born in Austria in 1951 and studied cello with Tobias Kühne and André Navarra, as well as conducting with Hans Swarowsky. He made his solo debut in Vienna and London in 1971, later dividing his career between cello performance and conducting, including posts as artistic director of the Northern Sinfonia (1990-1996) and chief conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic (1996-2000).

Schiff’s recordings of the Bach Cello Suites and Shostakovich concerto (Grand Prix du Disque, 1985) and the Brahms Double Concerto (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis) were highly acclaimed, and he performed on notable instruments including a 1711 Stradivarius. He was an influential teacher whose students included Gautier Capuçon and Natalie Clein, shaping a generation of cellists before his death in 2016.