Swiss Global Artistic Foundation

1st Prize: Young Concert Artists in New York in 2007
2nd Prize: (1st prize not awarded) 60e Concours de Genève in 2005

Born in 1987 to a Chinese mother and a Swiss father working in the visual arts, and grandson of a famous Chinese painter, Louis Schwizgebel-Wang began studying the piano at the age of six with Franz Josefovski. Three years later, he was admitted to the superior level of the Lausanne Conservatory in Brigitte Meyer's class. At the age of fifteen, he graduated with honours as a soloist. He is currently pursuing his studies at the Universität der Künste in Berlin with Pascal Devoyon, with whom he had already taken advanced classes at the Geneva Conservatory. He also takes classes with Jean-Jacques Balet.

Mr Schwizgebel-Wang presented his first concerts when he was only nine. Ever since, he has repeatedly performed on the most prestigious international stages and also played for radios and televisions. Interested in chamber music, he has collaborated with artists like François Guye, Marie-Annick Nicolas, Raphael Oleg and the Sine Nomine Quartet. He also appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Basel Sinfonic Orchestra, the Musikkollegium of Winterthur and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with conductors such as Carl Davis, Hervé Klopfenstein, Douglas Boyd, Jean-Bernard Pommier and Louis Langrée. He recently gave a recital at the Wigmore Hall of London. He will shortly appear with the Vienna Sinfonic Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Marek Janowski.

In 2005 he won the Second Prize in the Geneva Music Competition (no First Prize being awarded that year), as well as the Coup de Coeur Breguet Prize and the Prize awarded by the Public. In January 2007, he won the First Prize in the Young Concert Artists Audition in New York as well as eight special prizes, which opened the doors to the finest North American concert halls and orchestras. He performed recitals in Washington's Kennedy Center and New York's Carnegie Hall and received excellent reviews from the Washington Post and the New York Times

His first recording was released in 2006 under the Pan-Classics label (featuring Mendelssohn's Second Piano Concerto, accompanied by the Geneva Chamber Orchestra conducted by Paul Goodwin, as well as piano pieces by Mozart, Moszkowski and Schulhoff).

Mr Schwizgebel-Wang has received scholarships from the Fried Wald, Hans Wilsdorf, Leenaards, Ville de Genève, Irène Dénéréaz and Kiefer Hablitzel Foundations, and also support from the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund and the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation.

For further information, please visit Mr Schwizgebel-Wang's personal website: www.louisschwizgebelwang.com.