OPUS MOZART

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. »

Thomas Zehetmair’s ability to skillfully blend his musical interests is unparalleled. He enjoys widespread international acclaim not only as a violinist, but also a conductor and chamber musician, making him one of the most prominent artistic personalities of today. Since the 2019/20 season he is Chief Conductor of the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester as well as from now on of the Orchestre national d’Auvergne.  Chief conductor from 2016 to 2021 of the Musikkollegium Winterthur, he took up the challenge to record  all four Brahms symphonies (Claves) and third Bruckner symphonie (Dabringhaus und Grimm).  Zehetmair is also invited to conduct Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Mozarteum-Orchester Salzburg, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra ,Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Séoul Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Seattle Symphony Orchestra. He was Chief Conductor of Orchestre de Chambre de Paris between 2012 and 2015, and Artistic Partner of St. Paul’s Chamber Orchestra. Taking the helm of the Royal Northern Sinfonia as Principle Conductor in 2002, he sculpted it into one of England’s leading orchestras during his term ending in 2014 and continues to stay connected to the orchestra as Conductor Laureate. A number of recordings document his exceedingly prolific work with the orchestra.

Thomas Zehetmair has recorded the largest works of repertoire for the violin; many of his releases have earned multiple awards. These recordings include, among others, B. A. Zimmermann’s violin concerto with the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Heinz Holliger (“Diapason d’Or de l’Année“ 2009), 24 Paganini Caprices (Best List of the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik“ 2009, Midem Classic Award 2010), a recording of Elgar’s violin concerto with the Hallé Orchestra Manchester under Sir Mark Elder (Gramophone Award 2010) and Mozart’s violin concertos with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, acclaimed as a reference recording. In addition, the recording “Manto and Madrigals” with his duo-partner Ruth Killius appeared in 2011 at ECM, where contemporary works for violin and viola can be heard.His latest CD release is Bach Six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, selected by the New York Times as one of “The 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2019”, named by Die Zeit as one of their favourite recordings of 2019 and winner of the Opus Klassik 2020 for the best solo recording.

Thomas Zehetmair is the founding member of the Zehetmair Quartett, with which he was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the City of Hanau in November 2014 in recognition of outstanding musical achievement. The Zehetmair Quartett’s recordings of  the Schumann, Bartók and Hartmann quartets are acclaimed by critics and public.  For his far-reaching artistic contributions, Thomas Zehetmair was awarded, among others, the certificate of honour by the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik as well as the Karl Böhm Interpretation Prize by the federated state of Styria.

Thomas Zehetmair is an honorary doctor at the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar and Newcastle University.

Ruth Killius studied with Ulrich Koch and Kim Kashkashian and was principal viola player of the Camerata Bern. She played as soloist with renowned orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Camerata Salzburg, Basler Sinfonie Orchester, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Odense Symphony Orchestra. She is a regular guest at major festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival and the Helsinki Festival. She expands the standard repertoire for her instrument with contemporary music and also inspires composers: Heinz Holliger wrote a commissioned work by the Salzburg Festival – “Janus”, a double concert for violin, viola and orchestra. Furthermore the world premiere of the double concerto “That Subtle Knot”, a work dedicated to the duo Thomas Zehetmair and Ruth Killius, was presented with the Royal Northern Sinfonia in 2014.

In 1994 she founded the Zehetmair Quartet together with Thomas Zehetmair which meanwhile belongs to the most important string quartets. They received the „Gramophone Award, record of the year“ and four other prizes for their Schumann-CD. A recording of Hindemith’s string quartet no. 4 and Bartók’s no. 5 is labelled a reference recording by the media and was also rewarded the Diapason d’Or of the year. The ensemble also received the renowned Hindemith prize from the city of Hanau.

Ruth Killius published a solo CD with the complete cycle of Hindemith sonatas with NomadMusic in April 2018.The release of a CD with Bartók Viola Concerto and John Casken Double Concerto with ECM was published in 2022.

Ruth Killius has bien professor for viola at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz from 2001 to 2003.

A versatile musician, Daniel Haefliger is as renowned as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher as he is as organizer, lecturer and translator, and has also initiated numerous educational and musicology projects.

As a cello player, trained by Pierre Fournier and André Navarra, he has performed regularly in important music centres such as Berlin, London, Lucerne, Paris, Tokyo or Sydney with such partners as Heinz Holliger, Dénes Várjon or Patricia Kopatchinskaja and conductors such as Thierry Fischer, Pascal Rophé, Peter Eötvös or Magnus Lindberg. He has travelled all over Europe with the Zehetmair Quartet, which has won the greatest international awards for its recordings and whose specialty is to play every programme by heart.
Deeply invested in music of his time, he collaborated closely with all the composers who left their mark on his generation, whether they be György Kurtág, Brian Ferneyhough, György Ligeti, Elliott Carter, Heinz Holliger, Helmut Lachenmann, Klaus Huber, Luciano Berio, Franco Donatoni, Pascal Dusapin, George Benjamin and many others, and continues to premiere numerous works by the new generation of Swiss composers.

At the turn of the millennium, he initiated the greatest chamber music season in Switzerland, with regular concerts in Geneva, Zurich, Basel and Lugano, known as the Swiss Chamber Concerts, of which he is the musical and administrative director with Felix Renggli (Basel) and Jürg Dähler (Zurich).

He has also been solo cellist for the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, the Camerata Bern and the Ensemble Contrechamps. He is a founder member of the musicology editions bearing the same name, and has, among others, translated the Schoenberg-Kandinski correspondence into French.

Passionate teacher, he holds the chamber music class at the Sion site of the Lausanne HEMU, and founded the Swiss Chamber Academy in 2014, followed by the Swiss Chamber Camerata in 2017, which brings together Switzerland’s most promising talents.
Numerous radio and CD recordings with labels such as Forlane (F), Stradivarius (I), Claves (CH), Neos (D), ECM (D) or Genuin (D) attest to his activities as performer. Daniel Haefliger plays on a Giovanni Grancino cello (Milan 1698).

In 2014, the SWISS CHAMBER CONCERTS established a national Camerata composed of exceptionally talented young professional musicians. Since then, they have gathered each season under the baton of world-renowned conductors to perform bold programs that often include new works.