Simon Wallfisch (born 22 May 1982) is a British-German classical singer and cellist.

Life and career

Simon Joseph Lasker Wallfisch was born in London in 1982 to a family of professional musicians: his father is British cellist

Raphael Wallfisch Raphael Wallfisch (born 15 June 1953 in London) is a British cellist and professor of cello. As a soloist he performs regularly with leading orchestras around the world, as well as together with duo partner John York (piano), or as member of the ...

, his mother the Australian born baroque violinist

Elizabeth Wallfisch Elizabeth Wallfisch (née Hunt; born 28 January 1952) is an Australian Baroque violinist. Biography Born in Melbourne, Wallfisch debuted as a concert soloist at the age of 12 and took part in such competitions as the ABC Concerto Competition. She ...

. His grandparents are cellist

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (born 17 July 1925) is a German-British cellist, and a surviving member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. Family Lasker was born into a German Jewish family in Breslau, then Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland), o ...

and pianist

Peter Wallfisch Hans Peter Wallfisch (20 October 1924 – 10 November 1993) was a concert pianist and teacher, resident in Britain from 1951. Life Wallfisch was born in Breslau, Lower Silesia, in 1924. In 1938 he emigrated to Palestine; he studied at the Jerusal ...

. His older brother is composer

Benjamin Wallfisch Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch (born 7 August 1979) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and producer of film scores. Since the mid-2000s, he has worked on over 75 feature films, including composing original scores for ''Blade Run ...

, his younger sister is singer-songwriter Joanna Wallfisch.

Education

Between 2000 and 2006, Simon Wallfisch studied at the London

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

singing, violoncello and conducting. He continued his studies at Berlin's

Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin The in Berlin, Germany, is one of the leading universities of music in Europe. It was established in East Berlin in 1950 as the () because the older (now the Berlin University of the Arts) was in West Berlin. After the death of one of its fir ...

2006/07 and until 2009 at

University of Music and Theatre Leipzig The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssoh ...

. During that period he sang as guest soloist at the Leipzig opera house,

Theater Magdeburg Theater Magdeburg is the principal theatre organization in Magdeburg, Germany, the capital of the state Saxony-Anhalt. It was formed in 2004 with the merger of two theatres, the Theater der Landeshauptstadt (Theatre of the state capital) and the ' ...

, Anhaltisches Theater Dessau, Stadttheater Fürth and at the

Career

In 2013 he sang Escamillo in ''La tragédie de Carmen'' based on Bizet's ''Carmen'' with the

Nederlandse Reisopera The Nederlandse Reisopera (formerly Nationale Reisopera) is a Dutch opera company based in Enschede, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the company performs an annual season of fully staged operas. The organization regularly tours their productions, an ...

, in 2015 Albert in Jules Massenet’s ''

Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''T ...

'' with the

English Touring Opera English Touring Opera (ETO) is an opera company in the United Kingdom founded in 1979 under the name Opera 80 by the then-existing Arts Council of Great Britain. In 1992 the company changed to its present name. Today it is sponsored in part by Ar ...

, 2016 Marcello in Puccini's ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuse ...

'' with Orfeo InScena at the in Pisa, and 2016/17 Fieramosca in

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

’ ''

Benvenuto Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the '' Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of '' Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiogra ...

'' as guest at

Staatstheater Nürnberg The Staatstheater Nürnberg is a German theatre company in Nuremberg, Bavaria. The theatre is one of four Bavarian state theatres and shows operas, plays, ballets and concerts. History Its main venue, the opera house ("Opernhaus Nürnberg"), i ...

. In concerts he sang

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

's Weihnachtsoratorium at the

Brighton Early Music Festival Brighton Early Music Festival is an annual English music festival which includes concerts, workshops and other educational events in Brighton and Hove. The festival explores the connections between classical music, folk music and world music fr ...

in 2017 and

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; born 10 August 1932) is an English composer and academic. Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and composer Walter Goehr, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In his early twenties he emerged as a centra ...

's "after 'The Waking'" with the Nash Ensemble at London's

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...

Wallfisch performed as cellist in the Holocaust Memorial Day programme on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

in 2015.

Discography

* 2014 – ''

Geoffrey Bush Geoffrey Bush (23 March 1920 – 24 February 1998) was a British composer, teacher and music scholar. Largely without formal training in composition, he produced a wide range of compositions across different genres, including many songs and wor ...

Songs'', with pianist Edward Rushton.

Lyrita Lyrita is a British classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers. Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard ...

(SRCD343) * 2015 – ''French Songs: from la belle époque to les années folles'', with works by Caplet,

Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably '' Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 ...

, Milhaud and

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

), with pianist Edward Rushton.

Nimbus Records Nimbus Records is a British record company based at Wyastone Leys, Ganarew, Herefordshire. They specialise in classical music recordings and were the first company in the UK to produce compact discs. Description Nimbus was founded in 1972 by ...

(NI5938) * 2018 – ''Gesänge des Orients'', with pianist Edward Rushton. Nimbus Records (NI5971) * 2019 – ''Robert Schumann: Songs of Love and Death'', with pianist Edward Rushton. Resonus Classics (RES10247) * 2020 – ''Johannes Brahms: Songs of Loss and Betrayal'', with pianist Edward Rushton. Resonus Classics (RES10258)

Activism

Wallfisch is an activist against antisemitism. He gives talks and tells his family's history in schools, and accompanies his grandmother

, who is a frequent guest in talkshows and interviews. He is a trustee of the International Centre for Suppressed Music (ICSM), and performed works by "classical composers who were stopped from working, forced into exile or killed by the Nazis."

References

External links

*
Simon Wallfisch
on

Operabase Operabase is an online database of opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers themselves as well as their agents. Found at operabase.com, it was created in 1996 by English software engineer and opera lover Mike Gibb.Edward Sc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallfisch, Simon 1982 births Living people Musicians from London Alumni of the Royal College of Music English people of Australian descent Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin alumni University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni English baritones English people of German-Jewish descent Jewish opera singers English cellists Jewish classical musicians 21st-century English male singers 21st-century cellists