Biography
Gabiz Reichert (1994) is a Swiss classical pianist who distinguishes himself in his concerts - mostly moderated by himself - due to his original concert programs and his creative interpretative style. As a laureate of both, national and international competitions (including prizes and honorable mentions of e.g. Bärenreiter, SUISA and the Vienna International Music Competition) he played on stages in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, Spain and Japan, where he was invited to play in the Sendai International Music Competition as the first from his country to do so. Following the competition, he completed a concert-tour through Japan. During his studies in Munich in the class of the Finnish pianist Antti Siirala - where his final recital was awarded with the highest mark - he had multiple chances to perform major repertoire with different orchestras (e. g. Rachmaninov’s 2nd, Brahms' 1st, Beethoven’s 4th, Grieg’s piano-concerto, and others). Furthermore, he had the chance to work with great soloists and paedagogues, including Matti Raekallio, Jaques Rouvier, Andrea Bonatta, Homero Francesh, and more. His own students have successfully passed entrance exams (both bachelor and master) in some of Europe's most prestigious schools. His focus in teaching lies in giving everyone the neccessary tools to be able to work indepenantly and efficiantly, while keeping an eye on body and health. A careful approach is important to him, which is why he takes a lot of time for his students.
He had the chance to work as a Juror, most recently in the Concours Géza Anda, where he was asked to co-create a new prize to be given to someone that doesn't reach the semi-finals of the competition. Furthermore, he was part of the jury corps at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Academy, where he was judging in the final concert of the Neeme Järvi Prize.
Gabiz is also active as a conductor. Between spring of 2017 until 2020, he was the chief conductor of the "Student-orchestra of Munich" (“Storch”) and between 2019 and 2020, he too was the chief conductor of the GSO (Garching Symphony Orchestra). During this time, he was very actively involved in the development of both these orchestras and played an important role in their qualitative growths. In 2021, he was invited to conduct in the Orchestral Conducting Masterclass in Sofia under Prof. Johannes Schläfli (ZHdK) and James Lowe (Spokane Symphony) with a program consisting of Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Wagner.
Furthermore, Gabiz is an advocate for finding new ways of presenting classical music. Next to actively engaging with his audience in his recitals to create a more familiar atmosphere, he is working on interdisciplinary projects to broaden the horizon of music presentation. Due to his interest in philosophy and musicology, he is actively learning about novel ideas concerning ontologies of the musical work, and he has made it his calling to establish the field of creative interpretation as one that distances itself from conventional interpretation. In relation to that, he's working on a new recording (recorded September 2023) where he unites pieces by Bach/Brahms, Schumann, a commissioned piece for this program by Robin Becker, and Rachmaninov, in order to create a new collage, meant to be experienced as a whole. Other future projects include more commissions after pieces by William Byrd, animation films to the 9 Études-Tableaux Op. 39 by Rachmaninov, first performances of his own orchestral arrangements and more.
Gabiz recently moved to Winterthur, where he's working for the orchestra (Musikkollegium Winterthur).