English cellist Raphael Wallfisch was born in 1953 into a family of distinguished musicians. While studying with the great Russian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky in California, he was chosen to perform chamber music with Jascha Heifetz in the informal recitals that Piatigorsky held at his home. At the age of 24 he won the Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Florence. Since then he has enjoyed a world-wide career. Wallfisch is also in great demand as a teacher and holds professorships at the Zürich Winterthur Konservatorium in Switzerland and at the Hochschule Mainz in Germany.