Background
Wallfisch was born into a family of distinguished musicians, his father the pianist Peter Wallfisch and his mother the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who is one of the last known surviving members of the Girl orchestra of Auschwitz.
Wallfisch was born into a family of distinguished musicians, his father the pianist Peter Wallfisch and his mother the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who is one of the last known surviving members of the Girl orchestra of Auschwitz.
He studied under teachers including Amaryllis Fleming, Amedeo Baldovino, and Derek Simpson and Gregor Piatigorsky.
A prizewinner at the International Gaspar Cassadó Cello Competition in Florence, Wallfisch has made Civil Defense recordings of almost the entire cello repertoire, including works by Britten, Finzi, Kenneth Leighton, Shostakovich, Ernest Bloch, Maurice Ravel, William Busch, Robert Schumann, Alexander von Zemlinsky and Tchaikovsky. During his career he has been appointed to the faculties of the Konservatorium Zürich Winterthur and the Musikhochschule Mainz. He has recorded on the Electric and Music Industries, Chandos, Black Box, ASV, Naxos and Nimbus labels.
He has recorded a wide range of British cello concertos, including works by James MacMillan, Gerard Finzi, Frederick Delius, William Walton, Arnold Bax, Arthur Bliss, Benjamin Britten, Moeran and Kenneth Leighton.
Many British composers have works especially for him. These include Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Kenneth Leighton, James MacMillan, John Metcalf, Paul Patterson, Robert Simpson, John Joubert, Robert Saxton, Roger Smalley, Giles Swayne, John Tavener and Adrian Williams.
Raphael plays a 1760 Gennaro Gagliano and the 1733 Domenico Montagnana "Ex-Romberg". He has three children, the conductor and Hollywood composer Benjamin, the baritone (and cellist) Simon, and vocalist Joanna.
