François-Xavier Poizat

Born in 1989, François-Xavier Poizat is a graduate of the Geneva and Hamburg Conservatories, the Juilliard School in New York, and the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he studied with Alexei Golovin, Evgeni Koroliov, Nelson Goerner, Matti Raekallio, and Benedetto Lupo.

He has already performed in 28 different countries in venues such as the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Konzerthaus and Philharmonie in Berlin, the Seoul Art Center, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Carnegie Hall in New York, at festivals such as La Roque d’Anthéron (France), the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), the Progetto Martha Argerich, Lavaux Classics, and the Septembre Musical de Montreux (Switzerland).

Grand Prix at the 2004 International Romantic Stars Competition in Kassel, Young Soloist Prize 2007 from Radios Francophones Publiques, First Prize at the 2009 International Music Competition for Youth in Oldenburg and the 2009 Elise Meyer Competition in Hamburg, Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 2012 Soloist Prize at the Migros Culture Percentage in Zurich and finalist at the 2013 Clara Haskil Competition in Vevey, he has performed numerous concertos with orchestras in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Poznan Philharmonic, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the National Chamber Orchestras of Armenia and Lithuania, and the Philharmonia Orchestra of London under the baton of conductors such as Bernard Labadie, Philippe Béran, Thierry Fischer, Neeme Järvi, Lukasc Borowicz, and Frédéric Chaslin.

He has recorded five CDs with the labels Naxos, Ars Produktion, and Piano Classics, and has been director of the Puplinge Classique Festival in Geneva for 13 years and, since 2021, of the Stravinsky Festival in Voreppe. He enjoys jazz as well as martial arts, which he has been practicing for 20 years. A 6-CD complete Ravel collection featuring his entire piano works (including the two concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, chamber music, and vocal music) will be released in September 2024 on the Aparté label.