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 19/20 season include debuts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Bern Symphony orchestras in Europe, with Cincinnati Symphony, Omaha Symphony and Louisiana Philharmonic orchestras in the US and further afield with the Tasmanian Symphony and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestras.

In recent seasons, highlights have included performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Orchestre National de France, National du Capitole de Toulouse, Danish National Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, City of Birmingham Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Utah Symphony, Nagoya and Shanghai Philharmonic orchestras.  Conductors he has worked with include Gardner, Gražynite-Tyla, Krivine, Collon, Thierry Fischer, Dutoit, Luisi, Shani, Ticciati, Langrée, John Wilson, Gaffigan, Rouvali and Gabel amongst others.

In solo recital and chamber music, Schwizgebel performs regularly in 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, with artists such as 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 Progetto Martha Argerich and Menuhin Festival Gstaad and in 19/20 makes his debut in the Meisterinterpreten series in Zurich. In 2014 he made his BBC Proms debut with an electrifying televised performance of Prokofiev’s First Concerto and in 2018 at the Festival de Radio France in a televised performance of Gershwin’s 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’s Piano Concertos 2 and 5 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra – described as “gorgeously singing and wonderfully delicate” by BBC Music Magazine – and Beethoven’s First and Second Piano Concertos 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.