Raphael Wallfisch

Raphael Wallfisch (born 15 June 1953,^[1] London) is a British cellist.

Wallfisch was born into a family of distinguished musicians, his father the pianist Peter Wallfisch and his mother the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who is one of the last known surviving members of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. He studied under teachers including Amaryllis Fleming, Amedeo Baldovino, Derek Simpson and Gregor Piatigorsky. He is a prizewinner at the International Gaspar Cassadó Cello Competition in Florence. He has been appointed to the faculties of the Konservatorium Zürich Winterthur and the Musikhochschule Mainz.

Wallfisch has recorded on the EMI, Chandos, Black Box, ASV, Naxos and Nimbus labels. He has made CD recordings of almost the entire cello repertoire, including works by Britten, Finzi, Kenneth Leighton, Shostakovich, Bloch, Ravel, William Busch, Schumann, Zemlinsky and Tchaikovsky. He has recorded a wide range of British cello concertos, including works by James MacMillan, Finzi, Delius, Walton, Bax, Bliss, Britten, Moeran and Kenneth Leighton.

Many British composers have written works especially for him. These include Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Kenneth Leighton, James MacMillan, John Metcalf, Paul Patterson, Robert Simpson, John Joubert, Robert Saxton, Roger Smalley, Giles Swayne, John Tavener and Adrian Williams.

Raphael plays a 1760 Gennaro Gagliano and the 1733 Domenico Montagnana "Ex-Romberg".

His wife is the Australian Baroque violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch.^[2] His sister is the psychotherapist Maya Jacobs-Wallfisch. He has three children, the conductor and Hollywood composer Benjamin, the baritone (and cellist) Simon, and vocalist Joanna.

References

External links

• Official personal homepage (in English)
• Biography from the Hochschule Musik und Theater Zürich (in German) DEAD LINK