Le Vin Herbé

Swiss-Italian soprano Laurence Guillod is a regular performer on international stages, both in opera and in concert. Her career has taken her to the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Opéra de Toulon, and in Switzerland to the TheaterBasel, the Opéra de Lausanne, the Opéra de Fribourg, the Casino de Bâle and the Victoria Hall. In 2020, she was invited by the Orchestre National de Lyon for a series of concerts at the Auditorium de Lyon, conducted by Ben Glasberg, as well as by the Orchestra of the Cameristi della Scala di Milano, to perform the MatthäusPassion under the baton of Wilson Hermanto.

She has successfully taken on the roles of Ilia (Idomeneo, Mozart), Adina (L’Elisir d’amore, Donizetti), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette, Gounod) and Marguerite (Faust, Gounod), Violetta Valéry (Traviata, Verdi), Micaela (Carmen, Bizet), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni, Mozart). More recently, she made her debut in the Puccinian roles of Liù (Turandot, Puccini), followed by the roles of Tosca and Mimì (La Bohème).

Laurence frequently performs the religious repertoire, including Brahms’ Requiem at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, Fauré’s Requiem at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Schubert’s Mass in E at the Salle de Musique in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Mozart’s Mass in C, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Petite Messe solennelle. 

She is also a keen recitalist, working with pianists Christian Favre, Riccardo Bovino and Edward Rushton, at the Festival Lied et Mélodies in Geneva and in the Stimmen zu Gast season at Liestal, among others, where she tackles the Romantic and post-romantic repertoires. 

Laurence Guillod has worked with conductors such as John Nelson, James Gaffigan, Andrea Marcon, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Antonio Pirolli, Axel Kober, Facundo Agudin, Wilson Hermanto, Cyril Diederich, Gabriel Feltz and stage directors Jérôme Deschamps, Omar Porras, Bruno Ravella, David Bösch, Elmar Goerden, Benedikt von Peter.

A top-level graduate of the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne, Laurence was awarded the Max Jost prize for outstanding studies, and then spent a season with the Opera Studio in Basel. She has received several awards, including a grant from the Colette Mosetti Foundation and a study prize from the Migros Cultural Percentage, and won the Claudio Abbado Special Prize and second prize at the Umberto Giordano International Competition (IT).

Since winning the Evian competition in 1985 and the Borciani competition in Reggio Emilia in 1987, the Quatuor Sine Nomine, based in Lausanne (Switzerland), has enjoyed an international career that has taken it to the major cities of Europe and America, including London (Wigmore Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), New York (Carnegie Hall) and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Among the personalities who have left their mark on the four musicians are Rose Dumur Hemmerling, who passed on her passion for the string quartet and introduced them to its great tradition; the Melos Quartet; and Henri Dutilleux, whose encounter with the quartet during the recording of Ainsi la Nuit for Erato was particularly enriching.

The life of the ensemble is constantly enriched by regular collaborations with other musicians. Close links have been forged with a number of quartets, including the Vogler Quartet in Berlin and the Carmina Quartet in Zurich.

The Quatuor Sine Nomine has a vast repertoire, from Haydn to the 21st century, not forgetting lesser-played works such as Enesco’s Octet. They have also premiered several contemporary works dedicated to them. As well as the great classics (the complete Schubert works on Cascavelle and the complete Brahms works on Claves), Arriaga’s quartets and works by Turina (also on Claves), their discography also includes piano quintets by Furtwängler (Timpani) and Goldmark (CPO).

As well as playing in the quartet, each member is involved in intensive teaching activities at the region’s universities (Hemu, hem Ge). The quartet has also been artistic director of the Orchestre des Jeunes de la Suisse Romande since 2012.

The Quartet is supported by the City of Lausanne and the State of Vaud. Since 1994, the Association des Amis du Quatuor Sine Nomine has contributed to the development of the quartet’s career, particularly abroad. The ensemble has been the founder and artistic director of the Sine Nomine Festival since its creation in 2001.

The Quatuor Sine Nomine has chosen to be called ‘nameless’ to symbolise its desire to serve all the composers and works it performs.

Daniel Reuss studied choral conducting with Barend Schuurman at the Rotterdam Conservatory. In 1990, he succeeded Jan Boeke as Artistic Director of the Cappella Amsterdam, becoming its artistic director. At the same time he conducted the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin from 2003 to 2006, then the Estonian Philharmonic Choir from 2008 to 2013. With the Estonian Philharmonic Choir and Cappella Amsterdam, he has made two recordings: Frank Martin’s Golgotha (nominated in 2010 for the Grammy for best choral performance), and Poulenc’s Stabat Mater and Sept Répons de Ténèbres in 2014. In 2017, he and Cappella Amsterdam were awarded the Edison Klassik’ prize for Arvo Pärt’s Kanon Pokajanen. From 2015 to 2019, he was artistic director of the EVL before becoming its principal guest conductor.