Louis Schwizgebel was born in 1987 into a Chinese-Swiss artist family. He studied at the Lausanne conservatory in the class of Brigitte Meyer where he passed the soloist diploma aged fifteen and in Berlin at the Universität der Künste with Pascal Devoyon. In 2005 he won the Geneva International Music Competition and confirmed his talent two years later by winning 1st prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. Supported by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, Louis Schwizgebel is currently studying at the New York Juilliard School in the classes of Emanuel Ax and Robert McDonald and works closely with Pascal Nemirovski.
(C) Caroline Doutre
Louis Schwizgebel workes with orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic and Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and the chamber orchestras of Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva with conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Fabio Luisi, Marek Janowski, Carl Davis, Thierry Fischer, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Keith Lockhart, Muhai Tang, Douglas Boyd, Christof Escher, Hervé Klopfenstein, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Louis Langrée and Alondra de la Parra. Festival appearances include performances at Verbier Festival, City of London Festival, Bergen International Festival, Progetto Martha Argerich, Festival Septembre Musical de Montreux-Vevey, Ohrid Summer Festival, Usedomer Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, YCA Tokyo and Beijing Festival, Midem Festival Cannes, St Prex Classics and Piano à St-Ursanne. He performed at prestigious venues like the Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Victoria Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, KKL Lucerne, Musikverein Vienna, Royal Albert Hall, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center.
At the beginning of 2013 the French label Aparté (harmonia mundi) announced a long-term cooperation. A first solo album will be released in summer 2013 (Schubert, Liszt, Ravel). A second album in 2014 will include major piano concertos. Future performances include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestra of St. Luke's, China National Symphony Orchestra, Verbier Festival, City of London Festival, Cardiff International Steinway Piano Series and a Germany tour including a performance at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.
Louis Schwizgebel is recognised as one of the most talented pianists of his generation and praised for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert as well as the French Impressionists. He is the 2nd prize winner and youngest finalist at the Leeds International Piano Competition 2012. In the final round he performed Beethoven Piano Concerto Nr. 4 with The Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder broadcast on television BBC Four and BBC Radio 3.
