Norina Hirschi

Born in August 2002, Norina Hirschi received her first piano lessons at the age of seven from Lilian Gisclon at the Zürcher Oberland music school. After her early debut as a soloist with orchestra at the age of 11, she was mentored from 2014 by the renowned Swiss pianist Oliver Schnyder. Alongside her Matura with distinction at the Kunst- und Sportgymnasium Rämibühl, she became a student at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in autumn 2020 in the class of Prof. Hans-Jürg Strub.

Besides numerous masterclasses with renowned pianists, she is a multiple first-prize winner with distinction at the Swiss Youth Music Competition (SJMW), in both solo piano and chamber music, and a prizewinner of the ZHdK Duttweiler-Hug Competition 2022, among others. In summer 2022, as part of the SJMW development courses, she worked with the composers Daniel Schnyder and Richard Dubugnon on their works and presented them in concert.

She has performed in many concert halls in Switzerland and abroad and at renowned festivals and series such as Davos Festival, Herbst in der Helferei, Klavierissimo, Kultur im Schaafstall, Kunst Gesellschaft Greifensee, Musikwoche Braunwald, Lenzburgiade, Lucerne Festival and the Starnberger Musiktage. In summer 2021 she was part of the acclaimed soundscape “100 Pianos” for the Kunsthaus Zürich, and in 2021 and 2022 a member of the youth jury of the SJMW “FreeSpace” competition. Since 2023 Norina Hirschi has been a scholarship holder of Live Music Now Switzerland.

Together with Thaïs Louvert (violin) and Leonardo Preitano (cello) she founded the Leonis Trio in May 2024. Since September 2024 they have been studying together at the Accademia Stauffer in Cremona (Italy) in the class of the Quartetto di Cremona. In March 2025 they won 2nd prize at the Kiwanis Music Prize in Zurich.