Biography

Born in Switzerland in 2000, Axelle Richez choose the cello as her favorite instrument at the age of nine and began taking lessons with Martin Müller-Weiffenbach at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. In 2013, she continued to study with Martin Reetz, first at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève and later at the Conservatoire de Lausanne. There she graduated cum laude in 2019, at the same time as she graduated her Matura also cum laude at the Gymnasium in Geneva. Since 2019, she has been studying in Basel at the Hochschule für Musik FHNW with Professor Rafael Rosenfeld, assistant Guillermo Pastrana. 

Axelle perfects her playing by regularly attending master classes. She attended courses with Steven Isserlis, Frans Helmerson, Peter Bruns, Jakob Spahn, Marcio Carneiro and Joel Marosi. She also receives a scholarship from the Liechtenstein International Music Academy and regularly takes part in the intensive music weeks and activities of the academy. 

From 2014 to 2019, Axelle was a prizewinner in several national competitions. She received several 2^nd prizes in the finals of the solo category of the Swiss youth competition and a 1^st prize in the duo category with pianist Rocco Michela. There are also two 1^st prizes at the "Concours de Musique Riviera". 

From 2016 to 2018, Axelle played in the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra under the conductors Daniel Harding, Joshua Weilerstein, Dima Slobodeniouk, Stanislav Kochanovsky and Alain Altinoglu. During the last year as a member of this orchestra, she received the "Prix Rotary" and was allowed to play the cello solo in the opera Rigoletto by G. Verdi under Stanislav Kochanovsky. Since 2019, she has continued to play as a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, Lahav Shani, Manfred Honeck and Fabio Luisi, among others. 

In addition to playing in an orchestra, Axelle is also enthusiastic about chamber music. She passionately takes every opportunity to make music in different ensembles.