Biography

Pianist and composer Timon Altwegg lives in Berg, Switzerland, where he organises his own concert series, "Konzerte im Haus Langrut" (Concerts at Haus Langrut). This series regularly brings renowned artists from Switzerland and further afield to Thurgau.

Altwegg has now recorded eleven CDs, and his recording of Freda Swain's works for violin and piano, featuring Lorraine MacAslan on the violin, has just been released by Dutton Vocalion. In April 2022, he released a solo CD featuring the first recordings of Freda Swain's piano music, followed by a chamber music CD in 2023. Altwegg owns and manages Swain's entire musical estate (fredaswain.com).

Together with violinist Gilles Colliard, Altwegg is also involved in a complete recording of Richard Flury's eleven sonatas for violin and piano.

As a composer, Altwegg has now written more than 30 pieces and received numerous commissions. His works are published by various publishers, including Heinrichshofen and Amadeus. While he received decisive compositional inspiration from Frank Ezra Levy, his greatest inspiration has always been nature and all its living processes.

Timon Altwegg started his piano career under the guidance of Hubert Mahler. In 1989, he graduated from the Swiss Music Teachers' Association (SMPV) in Zurich with a teaching diploma. He then moved to London, where he spent two years studying with Alan Rowlands at the Royal College of Music.

In 1992, he completed his time in England by obtaining a Piano Performance Diploma (concert diploma), after which he was awarded the title "Associate of the Royal College of Music". Since 1992, Timon Altwegg has lived in Switzerland, performing extensively in concerts. He has become a highly sought-after soloist and chamber musician, performing in concerts throughout Europe, the USA and South and Central America.

As a soloist, he has made a name for himself primarily as an interpreter of rarely performed works. Thanks to the great success of his overseas tours, he receives regular support from the Centre de Compétence Culturelle des EDA (Foreign Ministry). As part of this support, he performed Hans Huber's monumental Piano Concerto No. 4 for the first time since its premiere in 1911 in Beirut in 2013.

Many contemporary composers appreciate Timon Altwegg's outstanding technique and entrust him with the premiere performances of their works. The Swiss composer Frank Ezra Levy, who died in New York in 2016, dedicated two piano concertos and several solo and chamber music works to him. The American composer Hugh Levick dedicated his major piano work Decline & Fall to him. Other composers who have written works for Altwegg include Graham Waterhouse, Wolfgang Andreas Schultz, and Roger Meier.

As an editor for the publishers Heinrichshofen, Edition Kunzelmann and Amadeus-Verlag, he has published works from the 20th/21st centuries.

Altwegg was president of the Kreuzlingen Society for Music and Literature from 2018 to 2023 and the orchestra "Divertimento Kreuzlingen-Konstanz" (2017–2021), for which he composed his "Dance Suite" for string orchestra.

Alongside his concert activities, he teaches piano at the PMS and Kantonsschule Kreuzlingen.