Pianist Louis Schwizgebel will perform with the New York Youth Symphony’s Orchestra at The McCrindle Concerts in March 2013.

Louis consistently gives “an incredible performance full of devotion and virtuosity” (Berner Zeitung). In 2012, he captured Second Prize at the distinguished Leeds International Piano Competition. His 2012-13 season includes festival appearances at the Young Concert Artists Festivals in Tokyo and Beijing, the City of London Festival, Puplinge Classique in Geneva, and the Bergen Festival. He appears as soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, as well as the Charlotte and Longwood symphonies in the US. Performances abroad include a tour in China with the Shanghai and Shenzhen Philharmonics under the baton of Christopher Escher, an appearance as soloist with L’Orchestre Symphonique in Bienne, Switzerland, and a return engagement with the London Philharmonic.

Career highlights include a tour with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fabio Luisi where he performed at Musikverein in Vienna, Victoria in Hall Geneva, Kultur Casino in Berne, Tonhalle in Zurich and KKL Lucerne as well as his debuts at Wigmore Hall, at the Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis.

He has also soloed with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Basel Symphony Orchestra, and in Japan with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra. He has worked with conductors Marek Janowski, Douglas Boyd, Christof Escher, Hervé Klopfenstein, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Thierry Fischer, and Louis Langrée, among others. Festival appearances include performances at the Verbier Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Festival Septembre Musical de Montreux-Vevey, Les Jardins Musicaux, Ohrid Summer Festival, and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In solo recitals he was heard at Merkin Hall in New York, Gianadda Foundation in Martigny, at the Vancouver Recital Society in Canada and in the Swiss Pavilion at the Expo in Shanghai.

First Prize Winner in the 2006 Young Concert Artists European Auditions in Leipzig and the 2007 YCA International Auditions, Mr. Schwizgebel was presented to rave reviews in his New York debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, sponsored by the Peter Marino Debut Prize, and his Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. He was also awarded YCA’s John Browning Prize, the Paul A. Fish Prize, the Peter Jay Sharp Concert Prize, and six performance prizes for concerts in the Brownville Concert Series; at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Princeton University Concert Series, Vancouver Recital Society, with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and at the Usedom Festival in Germany.

In 2008, Mr. Schwizgebel was honored with the Swiss Ambassador’s Award Concerts, organized by the Embassy of Switzerland in collaboration with the Swiss Cultural Fund in Britain. The top prize-winner in the 2005 Geneva International Piano Competition, Mr. Schwizgebel was also awarded the Audience Prize and the “Coup de Coeur Breguet” Prize, which sponsored his first disc.

Born in 1987 in Geneva, Mr. Schwizgebel gave his first performances at the age of nine. At 12, he represented Switzerland in the 9th Steinway Festival in Hamburg and at 15 won First Prize, the Prize for the Best Interpretation of a Swiss work, and the Paderewski Prize in the Swiss Youth Music Competition. Mr. Schwizgebel began his piano studies at the age of six with Franz Josefovski. Three years later, he entered the Lausanne Conservatory, as a student of Brigitte Meyer, and earned a “Soloist’s Diploma” at the age of 15. He then worked with Pascal Devoyon at the Universität der Künst in Berlin. He is currently a resident of New York City working with Emanuel Ax (YCA Alumnus) and Robert McDonald in the Artist Diploma program at The Juilliard School, where he was awarded the 2012 Arthur Rubinstein Prize in Piano. His mother, who is Chinese, and his father, who is Swiss, are both visual artists.