Arts Global

Lionel Cottet was born in Geneva in 1987. He studied with François Guye at the Geneva Conservatoire, Clemens Hagen at the Salzburg Mozarteum and Thomas Grossenbacher at the Zurich Hochschule. He is currently at the Juilliard School of Music in the class of Joel Krosnick, cellist of the very well-known Juilliard String Quartet. He recently received the Swiss Ambassador's Award 2011 and will present recitals in Manchester, Edinburgh and at the Wigmore Hall in London.

Mr Cottet has performed as a soloist with a number of orchestras, including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, the Polish Radio Orchestra, the Swiss Italian Orchestra and the Geneva Symphony Orchestra in prestigious venues such as the Zurich Tonhalle, the Warsaw Philharmonie and the Victoria Hall in Geneva.

His passion for chamber music has taken him all over Europe, to the Chopin Festival in Poland, the Olympus Festival in St. Petersburg, the Menuhin Festival and the "Sommets Musicaux" in Gstaad, amongst others, where he has played alongside such renowned artists as Bruno Giuranna, Ilya Gringolts and Martin Stadtfeld. His performances have been broadcast on Polish and Austrian radio stations, as well as Bavarian Radio and Radio Suisse Romande. He has also been asked to record solo pieces on video by the NHK Studios in Tokyo.

Mr Cottet has received numerous first or second prizes: the Lutoslawski Competition (Warsaw), the Brahms Competition (Austria), the Dotzauer Competition (Dresden), the Rahn Musikpreis (Zurich) and the Swiss Youth Music Competition. He has been invited to work with distinguished teachers at the Verbier Festival and Academy, Seiji Ozawa's International Music Academy Switzerland, the London International Master classes and the Pablo Casals Festival in France.

Mr Cottet has developed a deep interest in modern music through his collaboration with the Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik in Salzburg. He also performs a wide repertoire of contemporary pieces, both as a soloist and a chamber musician.

As well as receiving support from various foundations, he has been named a Migros Culture Percentage soloist.

Lionel Cottet plays an 1852 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violoncello.

For further information, please visit Mr Cottet's personal website, www.lionelcottet.com.