William Lehninger Swist was born in Hartford, Connecticut and has dual citizenship from the United States and Brazil. He is the third generation of a family of internationally renown professional musicians. Willy was saturated with professional rehearsals and concerts in multiple styles and instrumentations. He tried all the instruments but eventually displayed a prodigal interest in piano. He began formal study at age 6 with Raquel Moreno at the Brattleboro Music Center. Quickly advancing in technique and repertoire, Willy performed several Repertoire Classes and Showcase Recitals including his debut as a concerto soloist with the BMC String Orchestra on June 5, 2019.
Willy has performed assemblies for his fellow students at the Chesterfield School. He participated and performed in the 2019 Massachusetts Suzuki Festival at New England Conservatory. In 2020, at age 8, William presented his first solo recital in the Main Hall of the Brattleboro Music Center. This hybrid recital was posted on the BMC YouTube Channel to great acclaim. He followed up with another BMC solo recital of all new repertoire in November 2020. When not playing piano, Willy loves riding his bike, building Legos and playing video games.
You can find William’s 2021 Classical Music Competition performance here.
You can find William’s 2021 Baroque Music Competition performance here.