Oliver Schnyder
Oliver Schnyder is a Swiss classical pianist.
Education
Oliver Schnyder studied with Emmy Henz-Diémand, then studied in the master class of Homero Francesch at the Zurich University of the Arts, taking his solo diploma in 1998. He thereafter studied briefly with Ruth Laredo at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and from 1998 to 2001 in the class of Leon Fleisher in Baltimore.Career
Since his debut recital in the year 2000 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and his solo debut in 2002 with Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra conducted by David Zinman on the occasion of the Orpheum Music Festival for the Orpheum Festival Days for the Advancement of Young Soloists in Zurich, Oliver Schnyder has embarked on a global concert career. As a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician he has performed across all of Europe, in North and South America and the Far East, playing in Munich, Osaka, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, New York, Frankfurt am Main, Milan, Lucerne, Moscow, Beijing, Hamburg, Brussels, Manchester, St. Petersburg, Dortmund, Geneva, Taipei, Cologne, Seoul, Rockville, Maryland, Copenhagen, London and Baltimore.Schnyder has also performed at numerous international festivals, such as at the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Boswil Music Summer, the Ernen Music Village, the Lugano Festival, the Lucerne Festival and the Richard Strauss Festival Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Oliver Schnyder has performed as a soloist with many renowned orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Bern Symphony Orchestra.
Further renowned conductors with whom Schnyder has performed include Semyon Bychkov, Howard Griffiths and Muhai Tang.
Oliver Schnyder is the pianist of the Schnyder Trio, which he founded in 2012 together with violinist Andreas Janke and the cellist Benjamin Nyffenegger. The Trio gave its debut in the Zurich Tonhalle on 4 February 2012 with Schubert's Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major.
Cultural involvement
Oliver Schnyder is the founder and artistic director of Piano District, whose aim is to bring top-class concerts into the spaces of selected industrial monuments of the canton of Aargau, and of Piano Legends, which organises concerts with legendary pianists. He is also the Intendant of the Ittingen Whitsun Concerts 2016.Scholarships, prizes and awards
- "Supersonic Award" of the Luxembourgish Magazine Pizzicato, 2015, 2011 and 2010
- "M&T Meilenstein" of the Swiss Magazine Musik & Theater, 2014
- Career grant of the Aargau Kuratorium for artistic achievements, 2012, 2007
- Nomination for ICMA, 2012
- "Choc de Classica" of the French Magazine Classica, 2012
- "Rose of the Week" of the Munich newspaper tz for an outstanding artistic performance, 2009
- Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists, Zurich, 2002
- Milholland Award for Piano of the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, 2001
- Finalist International Robert Schumann Competition for Piano and Singing, Zwickau, 2000
- First Prize at the Pembaur Competition, Berne, 1999
- Rahn Music Award, Zurich, 1998
- Second Prize Lions International Piano Competition, as the official representative of Switzerland at the European Finals in Budapest, 1998
- Scholarship of the Swiss-American Cultural Exchange Council, Washington, D.C., 1998
- Duttweiler Hug Prize, Zurich, 1996
- Landolt Prize, Zurich, 1996
- Soloist Prize of the Jmanuel & Evamaria Schenk Foundation, Zofingen, 1996
- Studies Prize of the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund and the Ernst Göhner Foundation, 1995
- Soloist Prize of the Swiss Council for Music, Boswil, 1991
Discography
- Brahms: Piano Trios No. 1, B major, op. 8, No. 2, C major, op. 87, No. 3, C minor, op. 101. Oliver Schnyder Trio. RCA Red Seal, 2014
- Schubert: Winterreise, D. 911. Oliver Schnyder Trio. With Daniel Behle. Sony Classical, 2014
- Haydn: Piano Concertos F major, Hob. XVIII:3, G major, Hob. XVIII:4 and D major, Hob. XVIII:11. With Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields conducted by Andrew Watkinson. RCA Red Seal, 2012, and in the series "The best good classical CD" in Kulturspiegel, 2013
- Schubert: Piano Trios No. 2, E-flat major, D. 929, op. 100 and No. 1, B major, D. 898, op. 99; Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D. 965, op. 129; Ständchen. Oliver Schnyder Trio. RCA Red Seal, 2013
- Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos No. 1, G minor, op. 25 and No. 2, D minor, op. 40; Concerto for Piano and Strings, A minor, MWV O 2. With Orchestra Musikkollegium Winterthur conducted by Douglas Boyd. RCA Red Seal, 2013
- Richard Strauss: Lieder. With Daniel Behle. Capriccio, 2012
- Generation. Songs of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms. With Renate and Daniel Behle. Capriccio, 2012
- Liszt: Années de pèlerinage. Première année: Suisse. Werke, Malédiction, for Piano and Strings, S. 121. With Andreas Janke, Yi-Chen Lin, Cosemin Banica, Cathrin Kudelka, Michel Rouilly, Katja Fuchs, Benjamin Nyffenegger, Christian Proske, Kamil Losiewicz. RCA Red Seal, 2011
- Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2, E-flat major, D. 929, op. 100; Piano Sonata, A major, D. 664, op. 120. Trio Opus 100. Solo Musica, 2010
- Mendelssohn: Sonata for Violin and Piano, F major; Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra, D minor. With Rudens Turku and Cappella Istropolitana conducted by Ariel Zuckermann. Avie Records, 2010
- Schweizer Lieder. Leo Nadelmann: Mein blaues Klavier; Songs of Bloch, Hegar, Rolf Urs Ringger, Burkhard. With Noëmi Nadelmann. Musiques Suisses, 2010
- Piano Works. Schumann: Abegg Variations, op. 1; Davidsbündlertänze, op. 6; Aarabesque, op. 18; Ghost Variations, WoO 24; Gesänge der Frühe, op. 133. RCA Red Seal, 2010
- Homelands. Music for Violin and Piano. Grieg: Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano, C minor, op. 45; Rachmaninov: Vocalise, op. 34, No. 14; Dvořák: Sonatina for Violin and Piano, G major, op. 100; Piazzolla: Milonga en Re ; Sarasate: Romanza Andaluza, op. 22, No. 1. With Rudens Turku. Avie Records, 2009
- Hefti: Schattenspiel, Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Piano; Ritus, four Dance Collages for Violoncello solo; Rosenblätter, Song Cycle for medium voice and Piano. Telos, 2008
- Lieder. Songs of Schubert, Beethoven, Grieg, Britten, Manfred Trojahn. With Daniel Behle. Phoenix Edition, 2008
- Contrasts. Mozart: Piano Concertos No. 12, A major, K. 414; No. 13, C major, K. 415 and No. 26, D major, K. 537; the complete Piano works in minor: Fantasias No. 3, D minor, K. 397 and No. 4, C minor, K. 475, Piano Sonatas No. 9, A minor, K. 310 and No. 14, C minor, K. 457; Rondo for Piano No. 3, A minor, K. 511; Adagio, B minor, K. 540. With Camerata Bern conducted by Erich Höbarth. RCA Red Seal, 2008
- Hefti: Tenet, four Songs for Sopran and Ensemble; Schattenklang, Adagio for Piano; Mondschatten, for Violin and Marimba; O, star! II, Mosaic for Saxophone solo; Miroirs, for Violin and Piano. With Zürcher Kammerensemble conducted by David Philip Hefti. Telos, 2007
- Recital. Chopin. Telos, 2007
- Grieg: Lieder, op. 48; Hefti: Rosenblätter; Ravel: Histoires Naturelles. With Judith Schmid. SwissPan, 2007
- Hefti: Diarium for Violin solo; O, star! Mosaic for Clarinet solo; Melencolia I for Flute, Drums and Piano; Sator, Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra. With Stefan Tönz, Valentin Wandeler, Zürcher Kammerensemble and members of Collegium Novum Zürich conducted by David Philip Hefti. Telos, 2006
- Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos No. 2, G minor, op. 22, and No. 5, F major, op. 103; Wedding Cake, op. 76. With Aargau Symphony Orchestra conducted by Douglas Bostock. ClassicO, 2004
- Piano works. Fauré: Nocturne No. 1, E-flat minor, op. 33, No. 1, Impromptus No. 2, F minor, op. 31 and No. 3, A-flat, op. 34; Debussy: Estampes; Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Art Unity, 2002
- Rolf Urs Ringger: Aria amarosa, The Golden Heat of Midday, "Feuillages" for String Quartet, Klavierstücke. Musiques Suisses, 2001
- Piano works. Brahms: Sonata No. 3, F minor, op. 5; Mendelssohn: Variations sérieuses, op. 54; Schubert: Sonata, A major, D. 664, op. 120. Art Unity, 2001