« One to watch. The Swiss Trio Ernest are quickly making a name for themselves, injecting youthful energy into new commissions and well known repertoire » Gramophone

The Franco-Swiss ensemble Trio Ernest, founded in 2019 in Geneva, has made its mark on the international stage thanks to its unique personality and its modern, committed approach to classical music. Their first CD, Haydn All-Stars (Aparté), has been unanimously praised by critics and notably awarded an Editor’s Choice by Gramophone, a Radio Classique Trophy, and 5 Diapasons. By pairing Haydn’s trios with arrangements of works by Brahms and Ravel, as well as Lieber Joseph by composer Jacqueline Fontyn, the trio advocates a vision of a repertoire in constant reinvention and firmly rooted in the present.

This strong identity has opened doors to major international venues, from Salle Cortot in Paris to the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, including Bozar in Brussels, Salle Franz Liszt in Geneva, the Schoenberg Center in Vienna, and the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. They are also invited to renowned festivals such as the Flanders Festival Ghent, the Swiss Chamber Music Festival, and the Ravel Festival. They can regularly be heard on France Musique, the BBC, RTS, and Radio Classique. Enthusiastic about new collaborations, they have worked with artists like Ophélie Gaillard, Stephan MacLeod, Gabriel Pidoux, Vassilena Serafimova, the Rouen Opera Orchestra and the Juventutti Orchestra, as well as actress Dominique Reymond. Since 2021, the trio has been the artistic director of the Bee Classical! season in Geneva, where they freely develop their artistic universe.

Particularly committed to promoting female composers past and present, the three musicians program a piece composed by a woman at every concert. Following this approach, they received the Christian Zeller Award for their interpretation of Maier’s Trio and participate in the Boîte à Pépites project. Wishing to contribute to the vitality of their repertoire, they premiered the Trio by Carlos Roque Alsina and are behind many arrangements for their ensemble. Finally, sensitive to ecological concerns, they travel within Europe by train to minimize the environmental impact of their profession. At their scale, the trio is committed to music that is classical, yet above all alive and connected to the challenges of the 21st century.

In residence at the European Chamber Music Academy, the trio has won numerous international awards, including the Pro Musicis Prize (Paris), the first prize of the Verao Classico Chamber Music Award (Lisbon), the Orpheus Competition (Zurich), and the Chamber Music Award at the ISA Festival (Vienna). Laureates of the Villecroze Academy, the trio holds a Master’s degree from the Hochschule der Künste Bern in Patrick Jüdt’s class. Former residents at the Queen Elisabeth Musical Chapel and ProQuartet, they are currently furthering their studies with Mathieu Herzog.

Thanks to the generous support of the Boubo-Music Foundation (Switzerland), Stanislas Gosset plays a violin by Francesco Goffriller made in Venice around 1735, and Clément Dami a cello by Giacinto Santagiuliana made in Vincenza around 1850.

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. »