François-Xavier Poizat
Biography François-Xavier Poizat
Francois Xavier Poizat
Trained within the Russian school by Alexeï Golovine in Geneva and Evgenij Koroliov in Hamburg, and now with Nelson Goerner, the pianist is described by Martha Argerich as “a very talented young pianist with a remarkable virtuosity and deep lyricism” and by Boris Berezovsky as “an excellent musician with high virtuosity”. Born in 1989, the French-Swiss pianist began his career at the age of 12 when the great Argentinian pianist invited him to Japan to play for the “Pacific Music Festival”.
Since then he has performed in various other festivals, in Switzerland, France, Germany, Russia, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Canada, China and Japan : La Roque d’Anthéron (France), the Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, the Schubertiade in Porrentruy, the Septembre Musical de Montreux, with orchestras like the Orchestre National du Capitole, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, or with the Poznan Philharmonic, under the batons of maestros like Neeme Järvi, Philippe Béran, Lukasz Borowicz, Thierry Fischer or Frédéric Chaslin.
François-Xavier Poizat won great recognition in the world of international competitions, when winning, among others, the Grand Prix of the 11th “International Wettbewerb : romantische Sterne” in Kassel (DE), 2004, the “Prix Jeune Soliste 2007” from the Public French-speaking Radios, the First Prize (all instruments) in the 5th “Internationaler Musikwettbewerb für die Jugend” in Oldenburg (DE) or the First Prize in the “Elise Meyer” Competition in Hamburg (DE) in 2009.
The pianist created a sensation in the famous “Tchaikovsky Competition” in Moscow (2011) by winning the “Jury Special Prize”, becoming the first Swiss pianist in history to be a prizewinner in this legendary competition. After earning the Migros Cultural Percentage “Solist Prize” (2012), he was a finalist of the Clara Haskil Competition in Vevey (September 2013).
Beside his activity as a pianist, François-Xavier Poizat is also the artistic director of the International “Puplinge Classique” Festival in Geneva. He has already published three CDs, available on the international market : Xaver Scharwenka’s 4thConcerto with the Poznan Philharmonic under the label “NAXOS” in the famous “Romantic Piano Concertos” series (2009), transcriptions for piano from orchestral pieces under the Label “Ars Produktion” (2013), and pieces from Alberto Ginastera under the label “Pianoclassics” (2015).
He received the “Leenaard’s Foundation” scolarship (2007) and the Prix d’Etude Migros (2011 and 2012). Aside from classical music, he plays Jazz with passion and has attended martial arts classes for more than 13 years.
