Born into a family of professional musicians, Raphael Wallfisch discovered the cello at the age of eight. While studying with Gregor Piatigorsky in California he was chosen to perform chamber music with Jascha Heifetz in the informal recitals that Piatigorsky held in his home. At the age of twenty-four he won the Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Florence. Since then he has performed continually worldwide. His extensive discography features works by a wide range of British composers, including concertos by Bax, Bliss, Delius, Finzi, Leighton, Moeran and Walton – for the Chandos Walton Edition he recorded the Cello Concerto originally written for his master, Piatigorsky –, besides Britten’s Cello Symphony. He has also recorded rarer works by Barber, Dohnányi, Grieg, Kabalevsky, Menotti, Prokofiev, Respighi and Richard Strauss. Many of Britain’s leading composers have written works for him, including Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, James MacMillan, Paul Patterson, Robert Saxton, Robert Simpson, Giles Swayne, Sir John Tavener and Adrian Williams.
Teaching is one of Raphael Wallfisch’s passions. He is in great demand as a teacher all over the world, and holds professorships in Switzerland at the Zürich Winterthur Konservatorium and in Germany at the Hochschule Mainz.