Born in 1989, pianist François-Xavier Poizat, with French, Swiss and Chinese roots, is a graduate of the Geneva and Hamburg conservatories and the Juilliard School in New York. He studied with Alexeï Golovin, Evgeni Koroliov, Nelson Goerner and Matti Raekallio. Martha Argerich eventually paved his way onto the international stage by inviting him to participate in the Pacific Music Festival in Japan when he was twelve years old, recognizing his “profound poetry and amazing virtuosity.” This marked the beginning of his pianistic career, which has already taken him to 22 countries in Europe, Asia and America.
François-Xavier Poizat has performed with major orchestras including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed under the direction of Philippe Béran, Thierry Fischer, Neeme Järvi, Lukasz Borowicz, Bernard Labadie and Frédéric Chasin and has appeared at prestigious festivals (Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron, Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, Schubertiade in Porrentruy and Septembre Musical in Montreux).
He has also won prizes at major competitions: the Grand Prix at the “Romantic Star” competition in Kassel in 2004, the “Prix Jeune Soliste” awarded by Radios Francophones Publiques in 2007, 1st prize at the “International Music Competition for Youth” in Oldenburg in 2009, and 1st prize at the “Elise Meyer Competition” in Hamburg. Furthermore, in 2011 he was awarded a special prize of the jury at the “Tchaikovsky Competition” in Moscow. In 2012 he received the award “Migros-Kulturprozent-Solist” in Zurich and in 2013 he was a finalist at the international piano competition “Clara Haskil” in Vevey.
In addition to his performances as a soloist, François-Xavier Poizat has been artistic director of the Puplinge Classique Festival in Geneva for seven years and has recorded three CDs for Naxos, ARS Produktion and Piano Classics. He is a scholarship holder of the Leenaards Foundation and Migros Kulturprozent. In addition to classical music, François-Xavier Poizat enjoys playing jazz music and has great enthusiasm for martial arts, which he has practiced intensively for 15 years.