Back to Inspiring Minds

Raphael Wallfisch (Class of 1971)

The internationally renowned classical musician Raphael Wallfisch developed a passion for performing while at Latymer, which he attended thanks to a Direct Grant place.

The cellist Raphael Wallfisch is one of the most recorded classical artists in the world. He won the Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Comptetion at the age of twenty four and his career has since flourished. He has performed on stages worldwide and played alongside orchestras such as the London Symphony, London Philharmonic and BBC symphony, just to name a few. Raphael is in demand as a performer at festivals and concerts and also as a valued professor; teaching is one of his passions. Raphael has studied with famous musicians such as Gregor Piatrigorsky and Jascha Heifetz and worked closely with leading British composers including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Kenneth Leighton.

When asked about the secret and motivation behind his success, Raphael responded;

“I think I’ve always personally enjoyed performing and I’ve always enjoyed the excitement of excellence, of really aiming for the best.”

Raphael Wallfisch is a Latymerian who attended the school on a direct grant and speaks very highly of his experience and its current facilitation and celebration of musical abilities.

As Raphael says:

“I’m really glad I came to Latymer thanks to the Direct Grant system, I was lucky to have great teachers all the way through while I was at school.  I think that anybody who’s lucky enough to come here will have an amazing time because of the incredible variety of things you can do at a high level, and I’m so happy to see that music is now on a par with sport and everything else, with a wonderful concert hall, wonderful music department and teachers. Everything seems to be going so well here, which is just so great to see.”

Upon reflection of his Latymer days, Raphael explains how his passion for the performing arts initially resided as his flair for theatre while he was at school;

“Since my real passion was in the theatre, very quickly I was involved with all the amazing activities that Latymer has, and still has, and had then, such as the journeymen, the apprentices, the guild, these extracurricular activities which were very inspiring and really sort of fired up my ambition to do well in those things as well in theatre.”