Oliver Schnyder

Pianist Oliver Schnyder maintains an extensive performance history with leading orchestras and conductors across the globe. He also maintains a strong commitment to chamber music and has pursued forward-looking approaches to concert presentation in his native Switzerland.

Born October 3, 1973, in Brugg in northern Switzerland, Schnyder began piano studies at a young age and received teaching and performance diplomas from the Swiss Music Pedagogy Association in 1994. He participated in master classes led by Homero Francesch at the Zurich University of the Arts, where he completed a degree in 1998 and committed to a career as a performer. In 1998 he relocated to the United States, continuing his training with Ruth Laredo in New York and with Leon Fleisher in Baltimore through 2001. Recognition followed quickly: he captured the Pembaur Competition in Bonn in 1999 and presented a major debut recital at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington the next year. His first concerto appearance in Switzerland took place in 2002, when he performed with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman.

Since that time Schnyder has sustained an international career, touring repeatedly throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Far East and appearing at major venues such as the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. He has collaborated with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (including multiple engagements on a tour with violinist Julia Fischer), and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Festival engagements have included the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Lucerne Festival, and the Lugano Festival, with frequent return invitations. In 2012 he established the Schnyder Trio, also known as the Oliver Schynder Trio, alongside violinist Andreas Janke and cellist Benjamin Nyffenegger. Duo partnerships have encompassed Fischer, violinist Veronika Eberle, and cellist Sol Gabetta.

Within Switzerland’s canton of Aargau, Schnyder launched the Piano District to present classical recitals in repurposed industrial venues and created the all-star series Piano Legends. His recordings have appeared on Avie, RCA, and Sony Classical. In 2017 he issued The Beethoven Project, a complete cycle of the Beethoven concertos recorded with the Luzern Symphony Orchestra. The following year he accompanied tenor Daniel Behle, a frequent recital partner, on the holiday album Meine schönsten Weihnachtslieder.