Stefan Gottfried was born in Vienna. He studied piano, harpsichord, composition and music pedagogy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, as well as basso continuo and historic keyboard instruments at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, French horn at the Vienna Conservatory, and mathematics at the Vienna University of Technology.

This was followed by a varied international concert career with harpsichord, fortepiano and piano as soloist, chamber music partner and continuo player in ensembles with historical instruments (eg Concentus Musicus Vienna, Bach Consort Vienna, Wiener Akademie) and modern orchestras (including Wiener Philharmoniker and Berliner Philharmoniker under conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Harding, Georges Prêtre or Kent Nagano).

Since 2004, Stefan Gottfried has worked regularly with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, among others, in his opera productions at the Styriarte (Mozart “Idomeneo”, Smetana “The Bartered Bride”, Offenbach “Barbe-Bleue”), at the Theater an der Wien (Handel “Rodelinda” Haydn’s “Orlando paladino”, “Il mondo della luna”, Beethoven’s “Fidelio”, Strawinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” and most recently the Mozart-Da Ponte Cycle) and the Salzburg Festival (Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”, “Die Zauberflöte”) and at many concerts (eg Wiener Musikverein,  Berlin Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival).