Swiss Ambassador’s Award 2017 goes to cellist Christoph Croisé

Press releases, 15.05.2017

This year’s award goes to 23-year-old Swiss cellist Christoph Croisé, whose virtuosity delights audiences and critics alike and places him amongst the “stars of tomorrow”. He will make his London debut with the Swiss Ambassador’s Award Concert at Wigmore Hall on 17 October 2017, and tour in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

Swiss cellist Christoph Croisé, winner of the Swiss Ambassador's Award 2017
Christoph Croisé. © Miriam Elias

Christoph Croisé began playing the cello at the age of seven and currently studies with W. E. Schmidt at Berlin University of Arts. He made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall when he was seventeen, and performs at renowned concert halls such as the Tonhalle Zurich and Vienna Konzerthaus. As a soloist he appears with conductors such as L. Gendre and K. Griffiths with, among others, the Skyline Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt. Christoph has won several first prizes in international competitions including a Gold Medal with Honours at the First Berlin International Music Competition in April 2017. His debut album with Oxana Shevchenko was released in 2015 on Quartz Classics. He plays a Goffriller violoncello made in Venice in 1712. Christoph Croisé

He will be accompanied by the Russian-born pianist Alexander Panfilov, who debuted with a solo recital at the Moscow Philharmonie in 2009. Now based in the UK, Panfilov regularly performs at the world's prestigious concert halls and is a winner of first prizes in numerous International Piano Competitions. Alexander Panfilov

The Swiss Ambassador’s Award Concert is an annual showcase of talented musicians with a classical and contemporary repertoire. The concert is organised in cooperation with the Swiss Cultural Fund UK.