“His playing has that choice quality of sounding right, the way the composer must have meant it. The pounding avalanches of the first movement were there; so were the leisurely, open-air feel of the second and the prankish, prancing deviltry of the third.” (Grieg Concerto, Ravinia Festival - Chicago Tribune, July 1999) The last few months have seen Andreas Haefliger collaborating with a number of major orchestras and conductors, including two appearances with the Chicago Symphony - one in March with Andrew Davis and the other at the Ravinia Festival in July with Christoph Eschenbach. He also appeared with the Boston Symphony/Spano, and toured the UK and Europe with the Philharmonia/Thielemann, playing Brahms’ magnificent Piano Concerto No 1. Following the performance at London’s Royal Festival Hall, the Times critic called Haefliger “a pianist who can take the massive demands of Brahms in his stride and invest even the biggest moments with majestic lyricism.” Summer performances with Toronto Symphony/Wigglesworth, Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Swensen (at London’s Barbican Centre), Montreal Symphony/Dutoit, Los Angeles Philharmonic/Krivine, and at Ravina have kept Haefliger busy, although he did make time to play Dvorák with the Takacs Quartet at New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center (coinciding with the release of their new Decca recording). The first half of the 1999/2000 season sees a further burgeoning of Haefliger’s activities that will include his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra/Chung and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic/ Bruggen, plus return visits to the Baltimore and New World Symphonies, an Italian tour with the London Winds and all-Beethoven recitals in Germany and the UK including London’s Wigmore Hall. In January he will appear with the Royal Concertgebouw/Chailly in Amsterdam and London, and return to the Vienna Konzerthaus for two concerts with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie/Harding. He has his second tour to Japan in June 2000 including concerts with the NHK Symphony/Dutoit.