biography

Raphael Nussbaumer was born in Altendorf (Switzerland) in 2006. He began playing the violin at the age of 4. At the age of 6 he was accepted into the violin class of Prof. Philip A. Draganov, where he first received lessons at the Musikschule Konservatorium Zürich (MKZ) and then at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB). In 2024, Raphael was accepted into the class of Prof. Antje Weithaas at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin.

He has won 1st prize with distinction at several national violin competitions, and also won 2nd prize internationally at the “Andrea Postacchini” violin competition (Fermo, 2018) and the “Louis Spohr” competition (Weimar, 2019), and was a semi-finalist at the Menuhin Competition. He took part in the 10th Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition in Vienna and was the youngest finalist to win 4th prize. In 2023 he won 2nd prize at the Tibor Varga International Competition in Sion.

He has attended various masterclasses, including with Prof. Benjamin Schmid and several times at the Swiss International Music Academy Youth Classics.

He has performed with renowned artists such as Christian Tetzlaff, Ivor Bolton, Gabriel Venzago, Kristian Sallinen, Giuseppe Mengoli, Oliver Schnyder, Benjamin Engeli and Benjamin Nyffenegger.

His concert activities have already led him to play with several orchestras, such as the Basel Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra Biel, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Bodensee Philharmonic Orchestra, Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt, Franz Schmidt Chamber Orchestra Vienna, Camerata Zurich, and many more. He has given concerts in Germany, Austria, Italy and South Korea.