Bio
Raphael Gisbertz was born in Germany in 2008. He received his first violin lessons at the age of six and a half. Since then, he has never put down the violin.
Since 2020 he has been a scholarship holder of Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and since 2023 he has been allowed to play their valuable Carlo Guiseppe Testore violin from 1700.
His performances have already been recorded by Deutschlandfunk, NDR and SWR. He will soon be heard as concertmaster of the LJO NRW on WDR in Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and with a whole sonata evening together with the pianist Colin Pütz on SWR 2.
Raphael has won numerous prizes at renowned national and international competitions.
His greatest successes include winning the First Grand Prize at the Concours Grumiaux in Brussels in 2023, the highest award at the prestigious Singapore Violin Festival 2020, the First Great Award at the Vienna International Music Competition 2020 and the Grand Prix at the Odin International Music Online Competition.
In addition, he was awarded the Ferdinand Trimborn Förderpreis NRW in 2021 as the first prize winner (unanimously with the highest score) and second prize at the international Ysaye Competition 2021. In 2020 he received a Golden Medal with High Distinction at the Manhattan International Music Competition and a first prize at the France Music Competition.
Raphael has won many prizes in the German Jugend Musiziert competition at regional, state and national level. In the violin solo category, he was awarded exclusively the highest number of points, most recently in 2022 at the national level. For this, he also received a special prize from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and the Sparkassenförderpreis NRW.
Despite his young age and the corona-related break from concerts, Raphael can already look back on a considerable national and international concert activity.
In 2023, he has already performed as a soloist at the Palais des Beaux Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels, among others, and participated as a soloist in the prizewinners' concert of the competition of the Deutscher Musikinstrumentenfonds in Hamburg, which was broadcast on Deutschlandfunk (German state radio). In addition, in autumn 2023 he is invited to perform on the Talent Stage of the Concertino Praga competition as part of the Dvorak Festival in Prague. He also performed in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Belgium and Germany in this year.
Just nine years old, Raphael made his debut as a soloist with Vivaldi's Spring with the Lower Rhine Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mihkel Kütson. His performance with the New Symphonics under the baton of Maurice Luttikhuis at the Kurhaus Scheveningen was broadcast on Dutch television (NPO 1) in 2019. This was followed by numerous appearances as a soloist with orchestra, including in 2023 with the Arthur Grumiaux Foundation Orchestra in Brussels, in 2022 with the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker and in 2021 with the Sinfonietta Ratingen.
In 2020 he made his debut with Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, at the Vienna Konzerthaus, and in 2022 he made his debut at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf.
Currently, Raphael is taught by Emir Imerov. Since September 2024 he is studying at Musica Mundi School, Waterloo.
He gained additional inspiration through his work with Gwendolyn Masin, Ingolf Turban, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Leonid Kerbel, Christoph Poppen, Rainer Schmidt and Shlomo Mintz, among others.
Raphael is a regular participant in the renowned Musica Mundi Festival and Course in Waterloo (2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023), where he has already gained in-depth chamber music experience in numerous ensembles in an international environment at the highest level.
Raphael is a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy Liechtenstein and participates in the Academy's intensive weeks and activities.
Furthermore, Raphael was the youngest participant of the Gstaadt String Academy as part of the Gstaadt Menuhin Festival 2021.
