Founded in 1942 by Victor Desarzens, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (OCL) has become one of the most sought-after chamber orchestras in Europe. After six years under the artistic direction of American conductor Joshua Weilerstein, the OCL is now led by the celebrated French violinist Renaud Capuçon. Comprising some forty musicians, the Orchestra’s vast repertoire ranges from early Baroque to contemporary works.

The OCL was soon invited to perform abroad, in the most renowned concert halls and festivals. It took part in the second Aix-en-Provence Festival and several editions of the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. His tours of Germany and the United States have been resounding successes, as have his concerts at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the BBC Proms in London, the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Berliner Philharmoniker. In the 2023-2024 season, the OCL will perform in Madrid, Barcelona and, for the first time, at the Philharmonie de Paris.

Throughout its existence, the OCL has performed with leading soloists. These include Clara Haskil, Alfred Cortot, Walter Gieseking, Edwin Fischer, Murray Perahia, Radu Lupu, Martha Argerich, Nikolai Lugansky, Daniel Barenboim and Frank Peter Zimmermann. The OCL has also always attracted the most interesting conductors of their time, including Paul Hindemith, Günter Wand, Christoph Eschenbach, Ton Koopman, Jeffrey Tate, Bertrand de Billy, Simone Young and Daniel Harding.

The OCL boasts an extensive discography: from the complete operas of Haydn in the 1970s-1980s conducted by Antal Dorati to the Beethoven and Mozart concertos with Christian Zacharias, not to mention recordings dedicated to Schoenberg and Webern (with Heinz Holliger) and Spohr and Weber (with Paul Meyer).

Graduating with the highest honors from the prestigious schools of Lausanne and Zurich, Hélène Walter trained under the guidance of Teresa Berganza, Helmut Deutsch, John Fiore, Luisa Castellani, Christian Immler, and has performed under the baton of Ton Koopman and Michel Corboz. After her studies, she further refined her skills with renowned interpreters such as Alessandra Rossi, Heidi Brunner, Raul Gimenez, and François Le Roux.

Hélène Walter has enjoyed a brilliant international career, performing on prestigious stages such as the Müpa in Budapest, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and the Musikverein in Vienna, under the direction of Martin Böckstiegel, François-Xavier Roth, Pierre Bleuse, Lucie Leguay, and Corrado Rovaris. In Mozart’s works, she has portrayed roles such as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Sandrina (La finta giardiniera), and the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro). She has also performed as Elle (La Voix Humaine by Poulenc), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare by Handel), and Manon by Massenet.

An eclectic artist, active both on opera stages and in concert halls, Hélène Walter has performed Bach’s Mass in B minor, the Passions, the Christmas and Easter Oratorios with the Musiciens du Louvre, Solisti Veneti, Spirito, the Pygmalion ensemble, and in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Basel Kammerorchester. In 2022, she sang Pierrot Lunaire by Schoenberg alongside the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain and Bruno Mantovani, and she was a guest of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in 2018.

Hélène Walter has featured prominently in two major discographic productions, recorded at the prestigious Château de Versailles with La Chapelle Harmonique and more recently with La Chapelle Rhénane. Critic Ermes Mercuri praised her « vocal class and fascinating stage maturity » as « the highly talented Hélène Walter. »

Born in Geneva, Natacha Casagrande first studied violin before pursuing voice, choral conducting, and orchestral conducting at the Haute école de musique de Genève.

From 1990 to 2002, she was a professional member of the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, performing as a chorister, soloist, and assistant conductor to Michel Corboz. Since 1995, she has conducted the Cantus Laetus de Genève, with whom she explores a wide repertoire ranging from the Baroque period to the 20th century, with a particular focus on original works that are rarely performed for a general audience. In 1999, she took over the Cercle Bach de Genève, with which she performs major choral works accompanied by orchestra or organ.

She collaborates regularly with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble instrumental of the EVL, the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, the Orchestre de Cannes PACA, the Ensemble Baroque du Léman, and the Capriccio of Basel.

Alongside her work as a singer and conductor, she dedicates much of her time to teaching (voice and choral conducting), both privately and at AMA Musique, as well as at the Haute école de musique de Genève, where she has taught choral conducting since September 2004. She also leads summer workshops (at the Noirlac Abbey and the Hindemith Foundation), and is regularly invited by the Vaud and Valais choral directors’ associations to give workshops in conducting and choral singing.

Benjamin Knobil is a Franco-American actor, director, and writer, born in Paris in 1967. While studying history at the Sorbonne, he trained at the Théâtre en Actes school in Paris under the direction of Lucien Marchal, and attended workshops with Peter Stein, Lev Dodin, Luca Ronconi, Yannis Kokkos, Joël Pommerat, Catherine Anne, Stanislas Nordey, Hervé Pierre, Jean-Louis Hourdin, Dan Jemmet, Marc Liebens, and Christopher Fettes.

Passionate about exploring metaphysical anxiety and dreamlike themes in theatre—often through outcast and desperate characters—Benjamin Knobil founded the company Nonante-trois in 1993. With this company, he has created over thirty productions in Switzerland and France, while also pursuing a career as a writer, actor, and educator.

His notable productions include Boulettes (SSA Prize 2008), L’Enfant et les Sortilèges by Maurice Ravel and Colette (2010), Le Chant du Crabe (2011), Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky (2013), L’Amour masqué by Messager (2014), Bouffons de l’Opéra (2016), The Whore of Ohio by Hanock Levin (2017), Les Trois Baisers du diable by Offenbach (2018), Jeanne et Hiro by Richard Dubugnon (2019), Antigone after Sophocles (2021), and Les clochards célestes du Rebetiko, presented at the TKM (2022).

The Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM) Orchestra is made up of students from the institution. It partners with renowned professional ensembles in the Lake Geneva region, and attracts the interest of acclaimed conductors. The Orchestra conducts yearly international tours and has performed in Hungary, China, Japan, France, Singapore and Finland.

An important regional cultural player, the HEM Orchestra regularly collaborates with the Grand Théâtre de Genève (GTG), the Paléo festival in Nyon and the Archipel contemporary music festival. The orchestral academy organised every two years with the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) under the direction of renowned conductors is a major event in the institution’s calendar. The HEM Orchestra regularly collaborates with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR), the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève (OCG), the Ensemble Symphonique Neuchâtelois (ESN) and the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie (OPS). 

A focus on contemporary repertoires, close ties with the HEM composition class, and the numerous collaborations with the Geneva contemporary music ensemble Contrechamps means the students have the opportunity to perform the music of our time and to create the works of the composers of the future.

The HEM Orchestra is conducted by renowned conductors, including Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leonardo García Alarcón, Pierre-André Valade, Emmanuel Krivine, Pierre Bleuse, Markus Stenz, and Domingo Garcia Hindoyan. Guest conductors for the 2023-2024 academic year include Clement Power, Laurent Gay, Peter Eötvös, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Guillaume Tourniaire, Kevin Griffith, Facundo Agudin, and Victorien Vanoosten.

The orchestra is also conducted by students of the HEM orchestral conducting class (under Professor Laurent Gay) during sessions organised as part of the curriculum.

Since its creation, the HEM Orchestra has taken part in several recording projects, some of which have garnered international critical acclaim.

The Choral Workshop of the Geneva Haute école de musique (HEM) is one of the school’s permanent ensembles, designed to offer ensemble practice to around a hundred students from across all disciplines. It is composed primarily of pianists, organists, and guitarists, but also includes students from theoretical departments, the Music and Movement program, and a few vocalists.

As part of the artistic community formed by all the contributors to the school’s musical life, the Choral Workshop initiates its own artistic projects and also takes part in large-scale productions within HEM and in collaboration with external partners.

The Cantus Laetus of Geneva is a mixed chamber choir consisting of thirty to forty singers with good musical and vocal skills, all of whom have confirmed experience in choral singing. Founded by Henri Paychère in 1966, Cantus Laetus was conducted by Jean-Marie Curti from 1974 to 1994 and has been under the direction of Natacha Casagrande since 1995.

The choir performs a repertoire ranging from the Baroque period to the 21st century, both a cappella and accompanied by piano, organ, or various instrumental ensembles, such as the Ensemble Baroque du Léman or the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève. Special attention is given to the exploration of original, lesser-known works that may not be widely familiar to the public, though it also sings major works from the choral repertoire.

Cantus Laetus holds two to three concerts annually, mostly in Geneva, and often participates in events celebrating Geneva-based composers. In April 2009, the choir took part in celebrations marking the anniversary of Calvin’s birth and the Psalm Competition organized for this occasion, performing the winning piece during a concert dedicated to Protestant composers from various periods. In 2012, they performed the Salve Regina by L. Rogg for choir and organ at a concert in the Basilica of Notre-Dame of Geneva. More recently, the choir appeared alongside several professional musicians in a concert at the Geneva Conservatory, paying tribute to Jean Binet.

The choir is regularly invited to perform in concert seasons across Geneva (such as the Printemps carougeois, Concerts de Lancy, Concerts de la Cathédrale de Genève) and also performs outside the canton in places like Vevey, Bonmont, and Lausanne, including an invitation to the prestigious Bach Festival. Additionally, Cantus Laetus crosses borders to perform in nearby France (Ferney-Voltaire, Taninges, Annecy Cathedral) and participates in international choral music festivals, such as AICLER PROVENCE and the Prague Spring Choral Meeting, with a focus on a cappella concerts.

Cantus Laetus has released two CDs: the oratorio Un chemin de croix by Dominican monk Jean-Daniel Balet in April 2015, and it participated in a recording dedicated to the musicians of Lancy for the 10th anniversary celebrations of Lancy d’Autrefois in 2019.

The choir regularly collaborates with the Cercle Bach of Geneva and other choirs on symphonic works requiring large ensembles. Notable moments from these collaborations include the Concert-Évènement in autumn 2028 to commemorate the centenary of the armistice of World War I, featuring the oratorio In terra Pax by Frank Martin, with Philippe Cohen and Gaspar Boesch, and the anniversary concert for the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which took place in November 2024 at Victoria Hall. This performance was held in collaboration with the Cercle Bach, the HEM Grand Choir, and the Maîtrise of the CPMDT, and included the European premiere of Everyone Everywhere by New York composer Daron Hagen, composed specifically for the occasion.

The Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne (EVL) was founded in 1961 by Michel Corboz, who successfully led it for over fifty years. As an outstanding professional vocal ensemble, the EVL holds its own amongst the best groups on the national and international scene, all the while maintaining strong roots in Switzerland. Artistically, it is a chamber choir comprised of a variable configuration of professional singers and, depending on the work being performed, young artists in training. Its repertoire ranges from the 16th to the 21st century, with a focus on French music, Swiss composers, and contemporary creations.

Today, the Ensemble is under the direction of Pierre-Fabien Roubaty, artistic and musical director, and Daniel Reuss, principal guest conductor. In recent years, the EVL has sung under the baton of world-renowned conductors such as Raphaël Pichon, Leonardo García Alarcón, Jonathan Nott, Arie van Beek, and Marc Kissóczy.

The reach of the EVL extends well beyond national borders, with invitations to perform on international stages. Over the past ten years, it has participated in numerous prestigious festivals such as La Folle Journée de Nantes, La Roque d’Anthéron, the Festival de Pâques (Aix-en-Provence), the Chapelle Royale de Versailles, and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. Additionally, the EVL regularly collaborates with renowned Swiss and international orchestras.

The EVL’s extensive discography has garnered international acclaim. Its recording of Monteverdi’s Vespers won the Grand Prix du Disque de l’Académie Charles Cros. Some thirty other award-winning albums include the three famous Requiems by Mozart (Choc du Monde de la Musique, 1999), Fauré (Choc de l’Année 2007 du Monde de la Musique) and Gounod (Choc de Classica 2011). Its latest opus, Arthur Honegger’s Le Roi David (1921 version) was released in 2017.

In 2023, EVL and OCL recorded Mozart’s Requiem under the direction of John Nelson. This is EVL’s 116th recording.

The Frank Martin Orchestra, conducted by Thierry Fischer, is a collaborative ensemble that brings together accomplished musicians from major orchestras in the Lake Geneva region and outstanding freelance artists. With an emphasis on inclusivity, the orchestra is not only a platform for seasoned professionals but also welcomes aspiring talents, including students from Geneva’s Haute école de musique.

Marine Margot graduated from the Haute École de Musique de Genève, where she studied singing in the Early Music Department. During her master’s degree, she also explored the repertoires of opera, lied, and melody.

She regularly performs as an oratorio soloist with various ensembles in the Geneva region. She has been heard notably in Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, as well as Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle.

More recently, she has sung solo parts in Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, Frank Martin’s Le Vin Herbé, Franz Schubert’s Messe in E major and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

She also sings with the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne and collaborates regularly with Ensemble Orlando Fribourg and Ensemble Les Argonautes, as well as La Compagnie La Tempête.

She has recently joined Ensemble Diaphane, a women’s collective bringing together musicians passionate about vocal music, focusing mainly on modern and contemporary repertoire. The ensemble works with a participatory and conductorless approach, fostering a collective, sensitive, and committed interpretation.

At the age of 13, on the advice of her middle school music teacher, she joined the Geneva Conservatory of Music to study classical singing. After a year of studying with Michèle MOSER, she continued her training with Isabel MARTIN-BALMORI until 2015.

In 2009, as a prizewinner of the Geneva Conservatory’s « Haydn » singing competition, she performed at Place Neuve with the Conservatory’s youth orchestra, and later live on the « Espace 2 » radio station as part of the Music Festival.

Passionate about the 17th and 18th centuries, she applied for and was admitted to the HEM (Haute École de Musique de Genève) in 2015 to study Baroque Singing.
She studied in the Early Music Department of the HEM under Lucien KANDEL, earning her Bachelor’s degree in June 2018 and her Master’s in Pedagogy in October 2020.

In January 2019, she performed the roles of “La Folie” and “L’Amour” in the opera-ballet Les Fêtes Vénitiennes by André CAMPRA, alongside HEM students at the LISZT Academy in Budapest (Zeneakadémia). In September 2019, she was awarded 3rd prize ex æquo at the Froville International Baroque Singing Competition.

Cindy sings with local ensembles such as Jeun’Voix, L’Horizon Chimérique, Entresilences, and Polhymnia. In 2021, she joined the Namur Chamber Choir, performing under the direction of Leonardo García ALARCÓN, Christophe ROUSSET, and Julien CHAUVIN, with whom she gave numerous concerts across Europe, Switzerland, and Canada.
In 2024, she joined the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne (EVL).

As a soloist, she performs with various ensembles, including Capella Ripaillensis – Compagnie Musicale Rhin-Rhône, which she co-founded, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu conducted by Franck-Emmanuel COMTE, and Cappella Mediterranea, where she performed the role of La Ninfa in L’Orfeo by MONTEVERDI under the baton of Leonardo García ALARCÓN at the Strasbourg Opera and at La Filature in Mulhouse in May 2022.

Born in Switzerland, Léonie Cachelin began singing at the age of 11 at the Maîtrise du Conservatoire Populaire de Genève, where over the years she developed a pronounced taste for music and singing. 

Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in opera singing and a Master of Arts in vocal pedagogy from the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne in Jeannette Fischer’s class, she also studied choral conducting in a second master’s program in Geneva and Stuttgart with Celso Antunes and Denis Rouger.

Passionate about the voice in all its aspects, Léonie pursues her young musical career both as a soloist and chorister in various professional ensembles, and as a choral conductor and singing teacher.

As a mezzo soloist in oratorios, she distinguished herself in such landmark works as F. Mendelssohn’s Drei geistliche Lieder, J. Haydn’s Stabat mater, A. Honegger’s Roi David,  F. Martin’s Vin Herbé, Mozart’s Requiem and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. In recent years, she has also developed a musical complicity with organist Vincent Thévenaz, leading them to offer several organ and voice recitals, ranging from early to post-romantic music. On stage, Léonie is the First Witch in H. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (dir. G. Carvelli) and Cherubino in W. A. Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (dir. G. Colliard) as part of the Festival du Toûno (Switzerland).

Passionate about the choral world, she sings regularly in Switzerland with the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne and the Ensemble Vocal Buissonnier, but also with the C.F Meyer Vokalensemble and in Germany with the figure humaine kammerchor. She is also a founding member of the Ensemble Diaphane, made up of 6 professional female singers.

French mezzo-soprano Ludmila Schwartzwalder studied with Brigitte Balleys at the HEMU in Lausanne and graduated in 2021. At the Opéra de Lausanne, she has appeared in Christiné’s Dédé (Maryse), Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Dorabella, HEMU co-production), Handel’s Alcina (Oberto), and Viardot’s Cendrillon (Armelinde). She created the title role in Crausaz’s Le Chat botté (Opéra des Champs), played Cidippe in Desmarest’s Vénus & Adonis (L’Arpa festante), and the Second Witch in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas (Ouverture Opéra). She portrays Siebel in Gounod’s Faust in November this season (Opéra du Rhône).

Being also a concert and oratorio soloist, she sang among others Bach’s Passions with the Orchestra of the 18th Century under the baton of Daniel Reuss. She is also a member of the self-managed Ensemble Diaphane, and part of the duo Skogar with pianist Pilar Benavides Campini, with whom she won the 2021 Fauré-Séverac prize at the Concours international de mélodies françaises de Toulouse. In 2024 she won the HEMU prize for a carte blanche at the Kattenburg competition. This will result in a concert on 10 January at the BCV concert hall in Lausanne, combining western and eastern music in collaboration with Jawa Manla (voice, oud) and Ezgi Elkirmis (percussion).

The Swiss bass, Geoffroy Perruchoud, began his musical career by studying the clarinet. After obtaining his Master of Arts degree in Music from the Haute école de musique in Geneva, he completed his training as a clarinetist with a Master of Arts in Music Performance with honours, in Thomas Friedli’s class. It was during his studies in Geneva that he discovered singing, in Michèle Moser’s class, and so it was that he began his professional operatic training at the HEMU in Lausanne, in Frédéric Gindraux’s class, where he went on to obtain his Master of Arts in Music Performance specialising in singing.
Geoffroy Perruchoud’s performances as a concert artist are divided between vocal and instrumental roles. He has consequently played in the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and was also a member of the Trio Divertimento.
As a singer, Geoffroy Perruchoud performs in numerous professional vocal ensembles (Ensemble Cantatio, Gli Angeli Genève (Director: Stephan MacLeod), Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, Horizon Chimérique, and many more) and as a soloist under numerous conductors, such as John Duxbury, Facundo Agudin, Dominique Tille, Renaud Bouvier, and Romain Mayor. On stage, his most notable roles have been that of Escamillo in Georges Bizet’s Carmen, Jupiter in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, the lead role in W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Théâtre du Jorat and with the Opéra du Rhône, not to mention the roles of Walter in Rossini’s William Tell, and Angelotti in Tosca.
Geoffroy Perruchoud is a musical training instructor at the Conservatoire Populaire in Geneva where he also conducts the Pop’Choeur choir as well as the wind sections of orchestras at schools in the canton. He has already collaborated twice with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, both as a presenter and a narrator.

Jonathan Frigeri is a sound/radio artist, performer, and electronic music producer—or, in a less conventional definition, a cave-exploring artist and psychic engineer working at the intersection of art and technology. He seeks to use technology with a lo-fi approach to evoke critical thinking through a poetic touch. Media are reduced to their essential form and questioned in their communicative, social, and philosophical functions. He pushes the boundaries and limits of a possible reality in order to see and hear what lies behind the curtain.

Making a name for herself across multiple engagements in Opera and Concert, showing a vivid temperament and a true love of making music on stage, Zoi Tsokanou is the first woman in history to lead a major Greek Orchestra. From 2017 to 2023, she served as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, leading 120 musicians in a new area of repertoire, international profile, accessibility, and educational and community engagement.

Highlights of the concert season 2024/2025 include her Return to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, her Debut with the Hessisches Staatsorchester Wiesbaden, the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra, the Brandenburgische Staatsphilharmonie, Concerts with Athens State Symphony Orchestra, The Lausanne Sinfonietta, the Orquesta Sinfonica da Xalapa in Mexico and a series of appearances and recordings with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra.

In the past seasons, she made her Debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London Gorecki’s Symphony nr. 3 choreographed by Crystal Pite, at the Norwegian National Opera, at Grande Theatre de Geneve, as well as with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande OSR, the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra NOSPR, the Niederrheinische Sinfonikern a.o. Her new album with the TSSO “Topos” has been recently released by Naxos receiving critical acclaim.

She works with distinguished artists like Gil Shaham, Thomas Hampson, Cyprien Katsaris, Juliana Avdeeva, Anastasia Kobekina, Simon Trpceski, Daniel Lozakovich, Alena Baeva, Daniel Müller Schott, Anneleen Lenaerts, Valeriy Sokolov, Lucienne Renaudin Vary, Roman Simovic, Maximilian Hornung, Ramon Vargas, a.o. Other recent engagements include concerts with the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Artist in Residence Marlis Petersen, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Nationale de Lille, Düsseldorfer Symphonikern, Sofia Philharmonic, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Bergische Symphonikern, Szczecin Philharmonic, the Radio and Television Orchestra Madrid RTVE, Collegium Novum Zürich, Ensemble Contrechamps Geneve, the Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt, as all major Greek orchestras and the Greek National Opera where she appears regularly. She participated in famous festivals such as Lucerne Festival, Holland Festival, Athens Festival, Schumann Festival Düsseldorf, Domstufen Festival, Klangspuren Festival, Festival Amplitudes.

From 2014-2017, she served as a permanent conductor at the Theater Erfurt conducting a vast Opera and Concert Repertoire. For two years she held the position of Associate Conductor at the oldest Czech Orchestra, the Westbohemian Symphony, and from 2011-2014 she was the Music Director of Arosa Music Theater at the Arosa Festival, Switzerland.

In 2024 she conducted the new Carmen production of the Schauspielhaus Zürich in Zurich and Amsterdam winning critical acclaim. In the Spring of 2018, she conducted Spontini’s rarely performed Opera Agnes von Hohenstaufen at Theater Erfurt creating an international sensation. At the Greek National Opera, she led renowned Opera productions such as Barrie Kosky’s Magic Flute, Katie Mitchell’s Lucia die Lammermoor and Elijah Moshinsky’s Simon Boccanegra. Her Opera Repertoire includes among others, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, Macbeth, Otello, Tosca, Cavalleria Rusticana, Glucks Orfeo ed Euridice, Die Verkaufte Braut, Gounods Faust, Zandonai’s Giulietta e Romeo, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, die Lustige Witwe, Die Fledermaus, West Side Story, working together with Opera Theaters in Erfurt, Bremen, Regensburg, Osnabrück, Hagen, Athens, Thessaloniki.

One of her remarkable moments is her assistantship with Bernard Haitink, her important mentor, together with Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. She was invited several times by Lucerne Festival to participate in the conducting Master Class with Bernard Haitink as well as from Tonhalle Orchestra and David Zinman. She won several prizes in International Conducting Competitions. Zoi Tsokanou was born in Thessaloniki. She held from her hometown a piano and musicology degree and studied in Zurich piano with Konstantin Scherbakov and Conducting by Johannes Schlaefli. She lives with her family in Zurich.

Anne-Cécile Moser discovered dance at the age of thirteen, followed shortly by theatre.
She quickly knew she wanted to make it her profession. After graduating in 1987, she worked with numerous directors, including Matthias Langhoff and Omar Porras.

In 2002, she founded acmosercie, a company marked by a dreamlike, sensitive, poetic, and daring universe. There, she created A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Alma ou petits bouts de rêves… by Marielle Pinsard, M.W (Magic Woman) with various Swiss female writers, Do Jedi Knights Have a Pimple on Their Nose? by Camille Rebetez, Adriatic Chronicles and Untitled (Provisional Title) with texts by Domenico Carli, Be Calme, Lison with writings by Louise Bourgeois and Jean Frémont, and La voix humaine by Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau with Virginie Falquet and Hélène Walter.

From 2007 to 2009, she was supported by a trust-based contract from the Canton of Vaud. In 2011, she launched the large-scale project 5600k – Les artisans de l’ombre with Mario Del Curto. Since 2017, Anne-Cécile Moser has also been practicing as an art therapist. (http://acmosercie.com/theatre/)

Contrechamps is an ensemble of soloists specialized in creating, developing and disseminating instrumental music of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. The Ensemble is dedicated to highlighting the diversity of aesthetics and formats making up the contemporary and experimental scene. For over 40 years the Ensemble Contrechamps has been working hand in hand with a large number of composers, conductors and artists. The Ensemble also showcases the multiple skills and unique talents of its member musicians and strives to develop fresh formats such as installation-performances, radiophonic concerts, research laboratories or collaborative processes. Its hybrid formula, both orchestra and collective, enables it to adapt to a variety of artistic constraints and to the proposals of the artists it works with. Contrechamps is renowned for its accomplishments and is a regular guest on international and Swiss stages and at prominent festivals.

Founded in Grand-Saconnex in the wake of Ensemble La Fontana Cantabile, the Académie La Fontana Cantabile is an association dedicated to promoting young talent by offering them opportunities to perform in choirs, orchestras, and often as soloists in major works of the classical repertoire. It is also the entity responsible for organizing the Ensemble’s projects in Geneva.

The concept began in 2016 at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, driven by the vision of its founders, conductor Jean Gautier-Pignonblanc and lyric singer Raphaël Hardmeyer, who were convinced that practical experience through concerts was an essential part of their training. Today, supported by organist Gaby Hardmeyer (a pupil of Pierre Segond at the former Geneva Conservatoire), the founders have continued to flourish: Jean is now a professor at the Geneva Conservatory, and Raphaël pursues a singing career across Europe while remaining active in Geneva.

Keen to transmit their skills and experience in today’s competitive classical music world, they stage two projects each year, often including coaching with distinguished specialists. Recently, they worked with the renowned German tenor Gerd Türk. The Académie primarily selects students from the HEM, giving them the opportunity to perform alongside the Ensemble La Fontana Cantabile, which has gained recognition through its concerts at the Temple Saint-Gervais and by inaugurating the newly renovated CMG building at Place Neuve, where they premiered Jean-Claude Schlaepfer’s Te Deum.

In June 2018, Jean Gautier-Pignonblanc obtained his Master’s degree in Choral Conducting under Brazilian conductor Celso Antunes at the HEM in  Geneva, along with the Janine-Françoise Muller-Dumas Special Prize awarded by the City of Geneva. After a year as assistant, he became conductor of the large oratorio choir composed of HEM students and in 2019 took a teaching position in the Music Culture Department of the Geneva Conservatory. Passionate about the institution, he is now assistant director while continuing to teach.

He co-founded the professional Ensemble La Fontana Cantabile, with which he has conducted Bach’s major works including the St. John Passion (2016), the Easter Oratorio (2017), the Magnificat (2019), and the Mass in B minor (2020). In 2023, the ensemble was invited to perform the exceptional St. Matthew Passion at numerous festivals. Following the complete Christmas Cantatas (2023 and 2024), the ensemble will perform Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Gubaidulina’s Canticle of the Sun with cellist Ophélie Gaillard in 2025. Since 2017, Jean has also conducted the amateur choir of Vandœuvres-Choulex-Cologny, comprising about sixty singers.

Interested in opera, Jean was invited in 2015 and again in 2017 to the Vienna State Opera by its chorus master Thomas Lang. In 2016, he worked at the Opéra-Théâtre de Saint-Étienne (France) as répétiteur and conducted Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Le nozze di Figaro in 2017 for the Académie Lyrique de Vendôme. In Bourg-en-Bresse, he was invited to conduct Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and Brahms’s German Requiem at the magnificent Brou Abbey in 2022 and 2023.

After studying piano, drama, and singing at the Conservatory in Normandy, Coralie Quellier continued her training with Gilles Cachemaille at the HEM in Geneva, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in singing in 2014. She then joined the HEMU in Lausanne in Brigitte Balleys’ class, where she obtained a Master’s degree in performance in 2016.

She performs regularly in the professional choirs of the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne. Coralie Quellier particularly enjoys performing on stage and has developed a solo repertoire ranging from comic opera, with roles such as Fiametta (Audran), Metella (Offenbach), and Havas in Une opérette à Ravensbrück by Germaine Tillon, to café-concerts, where she sings the hits of Thérèse with the company l’Arsenal d’Apparitions, and at the Théâtre du Galpon in the cabaret opera Mack is Coming Back, directed by G. Alvarez. She has also performed in Palestine at the Bethlehem Convention Palace in the title role of Carmen (Bizet), as well as in Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera as Jenny, directed by S. Grögl at the Théâtre du Galpon.

An insatiably curious spirit, a taste for risk, an unbounded appetite for the cello repertoire across all styles, civic engagement, and an unconditional love of nature — these are the hallmarks of the brilliant Franco-Swiss cellist Ophélie Gaillard.

Named “Instrumental Soloist Revelation” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2003, she has since performed in recital across Asia and Europe and appeared with leading orchestras including the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Orchestre national de Metz, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, and New Japan Philharmonic.

She records for Aparté, with several acclaimed complete cycles (Bach, Britten, Schumann, Fauré, Chopin, Brahms, CPE Bach, Strauss), as well as thematic albums that have reached wide audiences, such as Dreams, Alvorada, and Exils.

A passionate collaborator, she has shared the stage with Lambert Wilson, hip-hop dancer Ibrahim Sissoko, choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, Étoile dancers Hugo Marchand and Ludmila Pagliero, and bossa nova star Toquinho (Canto de sereia, live album, Aparté, 2017).

In 2005, she founded the Pulcinella Orchestra, which she leads from the cello, exploring 17th- and 18th-century repertoire on period instruments. Following her acclaimed double album of Boccherini with Sandrine Piau (2019), she and Pulcinella enjoyed major success with Vivaldi: I colori dell’ombra during the pandemic with mezzo-sopranos Lucile Richardot and Delphine Galou.

In 2021, she released Cellopera, a journey through a century of opera arias transcribed for cello and orchestra, recorded with the Vienna Morphing Orchestra under Frédéric Chaslin. In 2022, A Night in London explored composers who ventured to London in the 1730s, such as Porpora, Geminiani, and Bononcini. In 2023, she turned to Naples with Sandrine Piau, Marina Viotti, and Luan Goes for a colorful double album featuring works by Porpora, Leo, Durante, Matteis, and traditional tarantellas.

Percussionist Gabriel Michaud is a versatile musician with eclectic influences. He has performed at numerous festivals (La Folle Journée, Festival Archipel, IPEA Shanghai, Salon-de-Provence, among others), both in recital and chamber music, as well as with orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire.

In 2021, he won several prizes in solo competitions (Germany, Switzerland, Spain), followed in 2022 by chamber music awards (Luxembourg, with Trio Fragments). That same year, he took first prize, the audience award, and the press award at the prestigious TROMP International Percussion Competition Eindhoven.

Gabriel is also a composer, writing for chamber ensembles and electronic music, including work with the rap collective Codex Dissident.

Born in France in 2003, Gabriel began percussion at age 7 at a local music school, then joined the Nantes Conservatory at 11. Deeply involved in jazz, he played in several groups, notably the Tryptyk trio and the ODC 5tet. In 2020, he entered the Haute École de Musique de Genève, studying contemporary and orchestral repertoire as well as drum set, tablas, and composition. Since September 2023, he has been pursuing a Master’s degree in percussion at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.

Nikolay Ivanov was born in 1995 in Pleven, Bulgaria. He began his musical studies at the age of 10 at the Panayot Pipkov National School of Arts in Pleven in Simeon Serafimov’s percussion class.

From an early age, he gave numerous concerts as a soloist and with the Accent percussion ensemble.

In November 2018, he won second prize and the Friends of TROMP audience prize at the TROMP International Percussion Competition in Eindhoven, Netherlands. In June 2019, he took part in a creative project at the Centre Pompidou for Contemporary Art in Paris with a concert at Ircam. In August 2020, he was invited to perform at the PAS Festival in Beijing, China, and later in October at the IPEA International Percussion CloudArt Festival in Shanghai. In 2020, he obtained his bachelor’s degree and entered the master’s program for soloists at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève. In 2021, he was invited to join the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris as an additional percussionist. In October 2021, he won first prize at the IPEA Percussion Competition in Shanghai. Holder of a Master’s degree in Pedagogy from the Haute École de Musique de Genève, he has been teaching at the École Municipale de Musique et de Danse de St-Julien for several years.

Born in Switzerland in 1999, harpist Tjasha Gafner studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Nancy Allen after completing her master’s degree as a soloist with Letizia Belmondo at the Haute École de Musique de Genève. In 2024, she completed her master in pedagogy at the Haute École de Musique de Genève with Sandrine Chatron.

She is a laureate of numerous national and international competitions, including first places at the Felix Godefroid International Harp Competition (Belgium, 2012), Suoni d’Arpa (Italy, 2014) and the Martine Géliot International Harp Competition (France, 2016). In 2021, she won the Max D. Jost Prize, as well as the Leenaards Cultural Grant. Within ten years she has received more than 20 awards.

Since the age of ten, she has performed in Germany, France, Hong Kong, and many other countries, and has appeared as a soloist with the Kammerorchester der Bayrischen Philharmonie, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and the London Mozart Players. She regularly performs with various ensembles on an international level and also contributes to the expansion of the harp repertoire with her own transcriptions.

For her outstanding performances, she was awarded both first place and the audience prize at the 72nd International Music Competition 2023 in Munich.

The Frank Martin Orchestra, conducted by Thierry Fischer, is a collaborative ensemble that brings together accomplished musicians from major orchestras in the Lake Geneva region and outstanding freelance artists. With an emphasis on inclusivity, the orchestra is not only a platform for seasoned professionals but also welcomes aspiring talents, including students from Geneva’s Haute école de musique.