And Life Prevailed …

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.