Piano: Louis Schwizgebel
Louis Schwizgebel has been described as “a genuine virtuoso, a spirited young genius with real depth” (Fono Forum) and an “insightful musician” (New York Times). He is praised repeatedly for his poise, elegance, imagination, expressive lyricism and crystalline articulation. He performs regularly in recital and with the finest orchestras across the globe and has received critical acclaim for his recordings.
Schwizgebel’s 2021/22 season include debuts with the Oslo Philharmonic (Gershwin Piano Concerto under Vassily Petrenko), Orchestre National de Metz (Saint-Saens Nr 2 under David Reiland) and Royal Northern Sinfonia in Europe, with Richmond Symphony and Sacramento Philharmonic in the US and with Singapore Symphony in Asia. He will return to the Royal Scottish National Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra (performing their 2022 New Years Concert), Utah Symphony and perform Beethoven Piano Concerto Nr 5 at the closing concert of Septembre Musical de Montreux-Vevey together with the Lucerne Symphony under the baton of Michael Sanderling.
In recent seasons, highlights have included performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, all BBC Orchestras, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Bamberg Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Danish National Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Vienna Symphony, Tonkünstler Vienna, Cincinnati Symphony and Auckland Philharmonia. Conductors he has worked with include Edward Gardner, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Emmanuel Krivine, Nicholas Collon, Thierry Fischer, Charles Dutoit, Marek Janowski, Fabio Luisi, Lahav Shani, Robin Ticciati, Louis Langrée, John Wilson, James Gaffigan, Santtu Matias Rouvali, Ben Gernon, Elim Chan, Allondra della Parra and Fabien Gabel.
In solo recital and chamber music, Schwizgebel performs regularly at the major festivals and halls including most recently London’s Wigmore, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Rheingau Festival, Klavierfest Ruhr, Lille Piano Festival and Singapore International Piano Festival and performs chamber music with Benjamin Beilman, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Renaud Capuçon and Alina Ibragimova.
Schwizgebel performs frequently in his native Switzerland; he has played in the major festivals such as Verbier, Lucerne and Gstaad and Meisterinterpreten series at Zurich Tonhalle. In 2014 he made his BBC Proms debut with an electrifying televised performance of Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1 and in 2018 at the Festival de Radio France in a televised performance of Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue.
Schwizgebel records for Aparté and his latest recording of Schubert Sonatas D845 and D958 was described as an “album of extraordinary precision” by Le Figaro. Previous releases include Saint-Saens Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, described as “gorgeously singing and wonderfully delicate” by BBC Music Magazine and Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra hailed as a “beautifully nuanced account” by Gramophone.
Schwizgebel was born in 1987 in Geneva. He studied with Brigitte Meyer in Lausanne and Pascal Devoyon in Berlin, and then later at the Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax and Robert McDonald, and at London’s Royal Academy of Music with Pascal Nemirovski. At the age of seventeen he won the Geneva International Music Competition and, two years later, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. In 2012 he won second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition and in 2013 he became a BBC New Generation Artist.
