Biography

Professor Hans Leygraf was born in 1920 in Stockholm as the son of German-Austrian parents. He studied piano in Stockholm with the Schnabel-student Gottfrid Boon, and with Anna Hirzel-Langenhan in Switzerland. In addition, he studied composition and conducting at the Universities of Munich and Stockholm.

At the age of 9 he made his debut as a soloist with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, at the age of 12 he gave his first piano recital. After the war he performed throughout Europe, including the Soviet Union, USA, and Far East. He had appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, in London, Hamburg and Munich, with the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Orchestra under conductors like Blomstedt, Celebidache, Dohnanyi, Dorati, Ehrling, Fricsay, Gielen, Kempe, Sawallisch, Solti, and Szell.

Not least because of his many appearances in television, as well as through his LP-productions and radio broadcasts, Hans Leygraf is well-known to a broad audience, so with his recording of the complete Mozart piano sonatas.

Leygraf taught in Innsbruck, Darmstadt, Stockholm, Hannover and Berlin. From 1972-1990 he was a full professor at the Musikhochschule Mozarteum, Salzburg, where up to September 2007 he has had an international class for highly gifted students.