「德國有了自己的巴赫超級巨星」，在德國新生代鋼琴家之中，很少有人像馬史岱費爾德受到這麼多關注：不但外型搶眼，出眾的琴藝才是他嶄露頭角、躋身一線獨奏家的亮點。史岱費爾德出生於 1980 年，七歲時立定志向要成為一位鋼琴家，九歲首度登台，14 歲進入法蘭克福高等音樂院（Musikhochschule Frankfurt），拜布梭尼大賽得主納托錢尼（Lev Natochenny）為師，在 22 歲時拿下了從缺 14 年之久的萊比錫「國際巴赫音樂大賽」首獎，並成為有史以來最年輕的得主。這個首獎為史岱費爾德開啟巡迴演奏之路，他先後在安巴赫、斯圖嘉特、柯森等重要的巴赫音樂節裡演出，也成為歐洲各大著名音樂節的常客。而這輝煌的紀錄更使得史岱菲爾德被視為年輕一代的鋼琴家中，詮釋巴赫的佼佼者。

史岱費爾德的音樂會行程遍及歐洲、美國與日本，在阿姆斯特丹皇家大會堂、東京湡田川優勝中心廳、薩爾茲堡音樂節上演出。史岱費爾德也與頂尖管弦樂團，包括慕尼黑愛樂、倫敦皇家愛樂、新日本愛樂、薩爾茲堡合奏團、薩爾茲堡莫札特管弦樂團、德勒斯登國立歌劇院管弦樂團等合作演出。

史岱費爾德與 Sony 唱片簽訂獨家錄音合約，他的首張錄音，巴赫的《郭德堡變奏曲》在 2003 年發行，受到樂評界熱烈的讚揚，也很快地登上了德國古典排行榜的冠軍，這張專輯更被國外媒體拿來和加拿大籍鋼琴家顧爾德相比而名噪一時。兩人在同樣的年紀挑選這部鍵盤音樂登峰造極之作作為首度錄音，而史岱菲爾德也不諱言指出顧爾德對他掌握這部作品啟迪甚多。兩人在處理快速樂段的光彩奪目，抒情樂段的深邃狂喜，都頗有相通之處。不過史岱費爾德在思索這套當初由大鍵琴演出的曲目要如何以現代鋼琴表現時，大膽採用了前人所未有的創新手法，將許多聲部做了八度的調動，以達到音響的對比與區別。更難能可貴的是，他非常鬆動而有活力的詮釋，彷彿之前的這些前輩大師們的詮釋並沒有影響他的興致，透過 30 段風格各異的變奏，史岱菲爾德上演了一齣大膽的郭德堡變裝秀。2004 年 10 月，史岱費爾德因為這張《郭德堡變奏曲》錄音而獲得德國古典回聲大獎的「年度新銳音樂家」。隔年史岱費爾德的專輯《純粹巴赫》（Bach Pure）收錄巴赫的前奏曲、義大利協奏曲、法國組曲、幻想曲、三聲部創意曲等作品，這張專輯更為他拿下了 2005 年德國回聲大獎的最佳獨奏專輯。

2012 年 2 月，史岱費爾德應鵬博藝術之邀舉辦首場的台灣獨奏會，而 2013 年 1 月又將再度來台，與 NSO 合作貝多芬《皇帝》協奏曲，票房爆滿，可見其受樂迷愛戴之深。近年來已經接近退休狀態的著名指揮馬利納，也特別為史岱費爾德重掌聖馬丁學會樂團，可見史岱費爾德受大師重視的程度。

史岱費爾德已經和多特蒙德音樂廳合作多年，除了固定舉行的獨奏會之外，還有一系列「年輕的王爾德」音樂會，他甚至會向一些輟學或問題學生們解說古典音樂，讓他們對此產生興趣；他經常造訪學校，向小孩們談論他身為一個職業鋼琴家的工作，在他們面前演奏音樂，尤其是巴赫的音樂，也邀請他們前往聆聽他的音樂會。這個概念執行地非常成功，直到現在即使演出行程幾近滿檔，史岱費爾德也還是會固定地前往其他城市的學校，推廣古典音樂。

Pianist Martin Stadtfeld (b. 1980) gave his début recital at the age of nine, and was only 13 when he enrolled at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt to study with Lev Natochenny. He created a stir in 2002 when he became the first German pianist to win the International Bach Competition in Leipzig. First prize in this prestigious contest, which hadn't been awarded for 14 years, opened the doors to the leading Bach festivals (Ansbach, Stuttgart, Köthen) for the young artist, as well as to other important music festivals.

Concert tours have since taken him to all the leading music centres in Europe, the USA and Japan, and he has given solo recitals to full houses in all major German cities, in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo and at the Salzburg Festival. He has also played in orchestral concerts together with the Munich Philharmonic, London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, the Residentie Orkest den Haag, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchester and the Dresden Staatskapelle.

Martin Stadtfeld records exclusively for Sony Classical. His début CD with Bach's Goldberg Variations was released in 2003 to effusive praise from the critics, and rapidly rose to first position in the German classical charts. In October 2004 Martin Stadtfeld was awarded the "Echo Klassik" prize for this CD as "Young artist of the year". His sophomore album, "Bach Pur", featured Bach's three-part inventions and his Italian Concerto, as well as transcriptions by Ferruccio Busoni and Alexander Siloti, and again went to no.1 in the German classical charts; in 2005 the pianist was awarded another "Echo Klassik" prize for the "Solo recording of the year". Martin Stadtfeld's great passion is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, but to quote the weekly paper Die Zeit, Bach is certainly "the alpha and omega of his thinking, but by no means the entire alphabet. The young German artist can do a lot more than just play Bach".

The recording of the first part of Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier" was made in the Dortmund Konzerthaus, and was released in October 2008 accompanied by a second CD made as a co-production with the broadcasting station SWR: Martin Stadtfeld explains to a 12-year-old girl the special features of the work, using extracts from the score that he plays on the piano, the harpsichord, a clavichord and an organ. Martin Stadtfeld has been working together with the Dortmund Konzerthaus for many years now. In addition to regular recitals there as part of the concert series "Junge Wilde", he has also gone to some lengths to engender interest in classical music among pupils from problem schools: he visits schools, talks to the children about his work as a pianist, presents music to them, especially music by Bach, and invites them to attend one of his concerts. This concept has been so successful that Martin Stadtfeld now makes regular visits to schools in other towns, too.