Lauded for his “delicate yet virtuosic” playing (BBC Music Magazine) and praised for his “seamless subtleties of tone colour” and “plenty of edge” (The Strad), Swiss-French-German cellist Christoph Croisé is a singular artist whose multifaceted musicality transcends boundaries. Equally at home as a performer and composer, Croisé is among the rare musicians of today who embody the centuries-old tradition of the composing virtuoso—expressing a unique voice shaped by influences ranging from Baroque and Classical to Jazz and electronic music.
At the age of 17, Croisé made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York, a venue he has returned to multiple times since. His artistry has since graced the stages of the world’s foremost concert halls, including the Tonhalle Zurich, Konzerthaus Vienna, Philharmonie Berlin, Wigmore Hall London, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Residenz Munich, Capella St. Petersburg, Victoria Hall Geneve, Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonia Baku, and many others.
As a soloist, Christoph Croisé has performed under the baton of esteemed conductors such as Michael Sanderling, Mario Venzago, Douglas Boyd, Laurent Gendre, Giovanni Bria, Maurice Steger, Florian Ziemen, and Ayyub Guliyev, among many others. His collaborations encompass a remarkable array of orchestras across the globe, including the Musikkollegium Winterthur, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Bern Symphony Orchestra, State Symphony Orchestra Baku (Azerbaijan), Camerata Switzerland, Munich Radio Orchestra, Camerata Zurich, Moravská Filharmonie Olomouc, Southwest German Philharmonic Orchestra of Constance, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, State Capella Symphony Orchestra St. Petersburg (Russia), Collegium Musicum Basel, Izmir State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse, Radio Symphony Orchestra Tirana, Bavarian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán, Harbin Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Theater für Niedersachsen, and the Philharmonic Orchestra Budejovice.
Many of his performances—such as the Schumann Concerto with the Munich Radio Orchestra—have been broadcast by BBC, WQXR, Bavarian Radio, NDR, RTS, RSI, SRF, WMFT, and others.
A frequent guest at prestigious festivals, Croisé has appeared at the Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Musical Olympus in St. Petersburg, New York, and Baku, Davos Festival, Klosters Music, Radio France Festival Montpellier, Salzkammergut Festwochen Gmunden, Schwarzwald Music Festival, Emilia-Romagna Festival, and Belfast International Arts Festival, Festival and the Festival de Musique de Wissembourg, among many others.
As a chamber musician, he has performed alongside distinguished artists such as Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Mayuko Kamio, Bartłomiej Nizioł, Isabelle van Keulen, Andrey Baranov, Sergey Ostrovsky, Kirill Troussov, Gérard Poulet, Alexander Zemtsov, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Christoffer Sundqvist, Anna Fedorova, Oxana Shevchenko, Nikita Mndoyants, Lorenzo Soulès and Alexander Panfilov.
A laureate of numerous international competitions, Christoph Croisé has garnered top distinctions across the globe. He was awarded first prizes at the Schoenfeld International String Competition in Harbin, China (2016), the 2nd Berliner International Music Competition (First Grand Prize, 2018), the Manhattan International Music Competition (2016), the International “Salieri-Zinetti” Competition in Verona, Italy (2016), the International Johannes Brahms Competition (2015), the International “Ibla Grand Prize” in Sicily (2010), and the International “Petar Konjović” Competition in Belgrade (2009). He also received consecutive awards from the Migros-Kulturprozent in Zurich (2015 and 2016), as well as the 3rd Prize at the International Carlos Prieto Competition in Morelia, Mexico (2016), and the Golden Medal with Honors at the First Berliner International Music Competition (2017). He was also awarded 3rd prize at the “Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition” in Morelia/Mexico (2016). In 2015 and 2016, Christoph Croisé received the Migros Culture Percentage Study Award and has been a member of the Migros Culture Percentage concert agency since 2016. In recognition of his exceptional artistry, Croisé was also honored with the Swiss Ambassador’s Award in 2017 and the Prix Jeune Soliste des Médias Francophones Publics in 2019.
Christoph Croisé has established himself as a distinctive recording artist with a clearly defined artistic signature. His recordings – released on labels such as AVIE Records, Quartz Classics, and Genuin – combine interpretative depth with technical brilliance and have earned high acclaim from the international press. With over 30 million streams on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, his work reaches a global audience far beyond the traditional concert stage.
His third album, featuring Haydn’s cello concertos, was honored with the Pizzicato Supersonic Award and the Clef d’Or from ResMusica as the Best Concerto Album of 2019. In 2021, The Solo Album was selected as Editor’s Choice by Presto Music. In 2023, Croisé released Voyage Exotique, his first album of original compositions. The following year saw the release of his tenth album, Rachmaninoff: Piano Trios 1 & 2 • Romances, recorded with violinist Andrey Baranov and pianist Alexander Panfilov – named Critics’ Choice of the Year 2024 by the American Record Guide.)
Croisé is also a passionate advocate of contemporary music, having premiered numerous works by composers such as Daniel Schnyder (including his cello concerto and triple concerto, Cello BLU and Ad Aeternam), Marius Felix Lange, and Urs Joseph Flury. With particular dedication, he explores and performs lesser-known repertoire, including the German premiere of Joachim Raff’s Second Cello Concerto at the Elbphilharmonie and the Swiss premiere of Grażyna Bacewicz’s First Cello Concerto.
A versatile performer, he actively engages with historically informed performance practice. Highlights include performing Haydn’s cello concertos with the baroque ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro and collaborations with Maurice Steger, Sergey Malov, and Nicolas Altstaedt. His recording projects include the complete Bach Cello Suites (2021) and the Viola da Gamba Sonatas (2020), performed on a 1720 baroque cello crafted by Guarneri ‘Filius Andreae’.
Beyond the stage, Christoph is committed to education and mentorship, having led masterclasses at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (2018), El Sistema Festival in Venezuela, the Hiiuma Homecoming Festival in Estonia, and Masterclass de Musica in Granada, Spain.
In addition to the cello, Christoph Croisé composes his own works, in which he expresses his personal ideas and emotions, influenced by various styles ranging from Baroque and Classical to Jazz and Electronic music.
He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Niederlenzer Musiktage, an innovative festival in Switzerland that combines classical music with electronic music. He also founded the Beyond Modern Orchestra, a platform for the premiere of contemporary music.
Christoph Croisé completed his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Konzertexamen studies at the University of the Arts Berlin and the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, where he studied under Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. Further studies took him to Nicolas Altstaedt at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, and he was mentored for many years by Alexander Neustroev (Tonhalle Zürich). He also received valuable artistic guidance from Steven Isserlis, Michael Sanderling, David Geringas, Walter Grimmer, and Frans Helmerson.
In 2024, he completed his conducting studies with Florian Ziemen at the Bern University of the Arts and has since conducted regularly, particularly in the premiere of his own works, with orchestras such as the Philharmonie Baden-Baden, the Swiss Festival Orchestra, and his own ensemble.
Christoph Croisé performs on a rare Italian cello crafted in 1680, and gratefully acknowledges the support of the Lyra Foundation, whose scholarships have greatly contributed to his artistic journey.