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A native of Geneva, Sébastian Jacot is one of the most sought-after flautists of his generation, having won first prize at the ARD International Competition in Munich, the Carl Nielsen International Competition in Denmark, and the Kobe International Flute Competition in Japan. He studied with Jacques Zoon in Geneva, where he obtained his Master of Arts in Solo Performance and Pedagogy with distinction.
Prior to becoming the principal flautist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2022, he had previously held this position with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva, the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra in Japan, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
In addition to performing recitals and teaching masterclasses, Sébastian is an enthusiastic chamber musician and a regular participant in international festivals on all continents.
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 7 professional female singers. In September 2024, Léonie was appointed conductor of the University of Geneva choir.
Vincent Thévenaz is professor of organ and improvisation at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva, titular organist and carilloneur of the Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. His concerts have led him to many European countries, as well as Argentina, Uruguay, Canada and India. Having benefited from a complete training (organ, piano, classical and jazz improvisation, musicology, musical theory, direction, singing, French and Russian letters), he aspires to make known and appreciated the many different facets of the organ: as a soloist, with other instruments, sometimes classical (violin, flute), sometimes quirky (Alpine horn, percussion), as well as with an ensemble. He also plays different keyboard instruments, such as harmonium, Hammond or theatre organ, and carillon. Passionate about improvisation, he devotes himself to it on the piano as much as the organ, in concert or to accompany silent films.
In 2009-2010 he interpreted Bach’s integral organ oeuvre in 14 concerts, met with a resounding success. His duo with the saxophonist Vincent Barras, entitled “W”, proposes an original repertoire immortalised in two CDs. He has recorded two CDs for the Sony label with the Gli Angeli Ensemble of Geneva (Stephan MacLeod), acclaimed by critics. He also collaborates with many ensembles and conductors (Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ensemble Contrechamps, Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, Valery Gergiev, Heinz Holliger, Michel Corboz, Lawrence Foster, Antonio Pappano, etc). In 2005 he founded the Orchestre Buissonnier, an ensemble of young musicians, which he regularly conducts.
www.thevenaz.org
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.
Combining tradition with innovation in sound, Nicolas Bolens’ work places the spotlight on the material and subjects that present themselves to him. His music is often tied to other elements: a text, a film, a place, an invocation. But each project has the same aim: creating an authentic and unprecedented artistic experience.
For instance, with the Ensemble Batida, Bolens created “Welcome to the Castle” (2017), three musical acts for musicians moving through the Château des Allymes near Amberieu-en-Bugey. For the Gémeaux Quartett, he wrote “La Ville Oblique” (2013), a string quartet designed as a musical extension of Dali and Buñuel’s short film Un Chien Andalou.
Written text, mostly poetry, runs throughout Bolens’ work. He has composed music to poems by Celan, Sachs, Mallarmé, Char, Blok, Khayyam, Michaux, Éluard, Basho, Neruda, Rilke, Adonis, Shakespeare, and others. These authors, hailing from various countries and time periods, have led him to incorporate many languages into his work, drawing as much on their sonic potential as their semantic content.
Orchestration also plays an important role in Bolens’ work, in particular in rethinking the instrumentation of historical works. In 2018, he re-orchestrated Mahler’s “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” and 4th Symphony for the Lemanic Modern Ensemble under the direction of Pierre Bleuse. Commissioned by the Ouverture Opera association, his recent reworking of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” follows the same approach.
Nicolas Bolens has collaborated with the Ensemble Batida, the Lemanic Modern Ensemble, the Swiss Chamber Soloists, the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, the Ensemble Vocal Polhymnia, the Ensemble Vortex, the Basler Madrigalisten, and the Ensemble Vocal Sequence.
Born in Geneva, Bolens first studied piano at the Geneva conservatory, before completing his training in Jean Balissat’s composition class. He further refined his skills under Rudolph Kelterborn, Klaus Huber, Edison Denisov, and Eric Gaudibert. He is the recipient of numerous composition awards, including from the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (1993) and the Banque Cantonale Neuchâteloise (2002), as well as a grant from the Leenaards Foundation (1998).
A dedicated teacher and committed artist, he teaches counterpoint, 20th century writing, and composition at the Haute École de Musique de Genève. He is involved in several institutions related to musical creation in Switzerland, including the Swiss Musicians Association, the Archipel Festival Association, the Nicati-de-Luze Foundation, and the Artistic Council of the Geneva Competition.
An insatiable artist with a discography of more than twenty records, Pierre Fouchenneret dedicates several years of his life to interpreting the work of a single composer, surrounding himself with the finest chamber musicians and, more often than not, recording the composer’s complete works. In 2016, he recorded Beethoven’s complete sonatas for violin and piano with Romain Descharmes for Aparte. In 2018, he released the first volume of a complete set of Gabriel Fauré’s chamber music with Simon Zaoui and Raphaël Merlin. He also embarked on the ambitious project of playing all of Brahms’ chamber music together with the Strada Quartet, Eric Lesage, Florent Pujuila, Adrien Boisseau, and others. This complete set was released by B-Records between 2018 and 2021. In the spring of 2020, his recording of Schubert’s and Raphaël Merlin’s octets was released, featuring Nicolas Baldeyrou, David Guerrier, and Marc Desmons, among others.
A child prodigy, Pierre Fouchenneret won his first prize in violin and chamber music at the Paris Conservatory (CNSM) at the age of 16 in the classes of Olivier Charlier and Daria Hovora. He then won the Grand Prize at the Bordeaux International Chamber Music Competition, the Georges Enesco Grand Prize from Sacem, and became a laureate and an associate of the Natixis Foundation.
Invited to perform all over the world, the “extraordinary bow” (Le Figaro) of Pierre Fouchenneret quickly led him to play with exceptional musicians such as the Fine Arts Quartet, Jean-François Heisser, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Zong Xu, Julien Leroy and Nicolas Angelich. In 2013, he founded the Strada Quartet with Sarah Nemtanu, Lise Berthaud, and François Salque.
A consummate and avid artist, Pierre Fouchenneret is recognised by French and international orchestras for his audacity and his unique vision of the repertoire. He has been invited to collaborate with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux, the Brno Philharmonic, the Philharmonic of Nice, the Baltic of Saint Petersburg, and the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine. A renowned pedagogue, Pierre Fouchenneret teaches at the Haute école de musique de Genève.
Loïc Vallaeys is a young Franco-Peruvian pianist. He started playing piano at the age of 4 and has studied both in France and in Peru. At 13, he was admitted to the National Conservatory of Music in Peru, where he won first prize in his category for three consecutive years, across all instruments.
After graduating from the Conservatory, Loïc moved to Geneva to continue his studies with Nelson Goerner at the Haute École de Musique. Having obtained his bachelor’s degree, he is currently pursuing a master’s in solo performance at HEM under the same professor.
In March 2023, he won the Dominique Weber Prize, which is awarded to talented young pianists studying in Switzerland. That same year, he also received the Adolphe Neuman Prize from the City of Geneva, which is awarded to one exceptionally deserving student in the piano, violin, or cello class at HEM. In June 2024, he became a recipient of the Marescotti Scholarship by winning special prize at the Puplinge Classique festival.
Loïc has performed as a soloist in Peru, playing concertos by Bach and Mozart, and Mendelssohn’s “Capriccio Brillante.” More recently, in Geneva, he has had the opportunity to perform solo at the Palais de l’Athénée, the Lutheran Church, the Cité Bleue, and the Temple de Carouge during various festivals. He also gave a recital at the Église du Lieu during the Rencontres Culturelles de la Vallée de Joux.
In addition to his solo career, Loïc has also performed in several chamber music concerts, a genre about which he is particularly passionate. He has performed in duos, trios, quartets, and quintets, playing repertoires ranging from Haydn to contemporary music, including works by Mozart, Schubert, Robert Schumann, Brahms, Smetana, Fauré, Rachmaninov, Gustav Mahler, Dora Pejacevic, and Marc Eychenne, among others.
Arthur Noël is a 23-year-old French pianist currently studying at the Haute École de Musique (HEM) in Geneva, in the first year of a master’s in music performance under Cédric Pescia. Previously, he studied at the CRR in Paris in Jérôme Granjon’s class, where he obtained his diploma in musical studies (specialising in piano) in 2018. He then studied in Fabrizio Chiovetta’s class at HEM in Geneva, earning his bachelor’s degree in 2024. He has also worked with Brigitte Bouthinon-Dumas, Anne Queffélec, Philippe Cassard, and Bernard D’Ascoli in private lessons and masterclasses.
A finalist of the Merci Maestro International Piano Competition in Brussels in 2018, winner of the Lavaux Classic piano competition in 2022 and the Association Dominique Weber special prize in 2023, Noël has performed on several occasions in the church of Noyers-Sur-Serein during the Festival Les Rencontres Musicales de Noyers, in Nancy during the Académies Internationales d’Été, and in Tangiers, Morocco, at several private concerts.
He has also played numerous concerts at the Salle Davel in Cully, Hôtel des Trois Couronnes in Vevey, the Salle des Abeilles in Geneva, Théâtre des Rendez-Vous d’Ailleurs in Paris, Théâtre Le Regard du Cygne in Paris, Théâtre du Passage in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and in charity concerts (at Gustave Roussy Hospital, for the Monsieur Vincent Association, and for the Dominique Weber Association).
Noël has also performed as an accompanist and actor in the play “Rosa et Bianca,” a production of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, in 2022 and 2023. He composed an opera in English, “The Muse Calls,” which premiered on June 21, 2024, at HEM in Geneva, on the University of Neuchâtel campus.
A major figure on the hip-hop scene since the early 1990s, choreographer Mourad Merzouki works at the crossroads of many different disciplines, injecting circus performance, martial arts, fine arts, video and live music into his exploration of hip-hop.
Without losing sight of the roots of the movement and its social and geographical origins, this juxtaposition opens new horizons for dance and reveals unprecedented perspectives.
Merzouki created his first dance company, Accrorap, in 1989, with Kader Attou, Eric Mezino and Chaouki Saïd, and decided in 1996 to establish his own artistic universe by founding his company Käfig – which means “cage” in Arabic and German.
Since then, he has created 39 pieces, which continue to reach an ever-expanding audience. In total, more than 2 million spectators have discovered his company’s creations over 4,000 performances across 65 countries.
As the director of the CCN de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne (National Choreographic Centre of Créteil and Val-de-Marne) from 2009 to 2022, Merzouki developed an artistic project that was both rooted in the local region and open to the world. He forged new connections with the Pôle en Scènes project in Bron, where he has been the artistic advisor since 2016, bringing together the Pôle Pik Choreographic Center and the Espace Albert Camus. In these locations, he leads twin festivals, Karavel and Kalypso, which provide considerable visibility for hip-hop dance companies.
In January 2023, after 13 years as the head of the CCN de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne, Merzouki reestablished the Käfig company in the east of Lyon, in Bron and Saint-Priest, reconnecting with the area in which he grew up.
Kader Belmoktar started dancing hip-hop in 1993 with the group Culture Street, before joining Zoro Henchiri and Traction Avant in 1997. In 1999, Mourad Merzouki offered him the role of Frank II Louise in the show “Récital.” He continued this collaboration as a dancer in “Pas à Pas” (2000), “Dix Versions” (2001), “Corps est graphique” (2003), “Terrain Vague” (2006), “Tricôté” (2008), “Yo Gee Ti” (2012), “Pixel” (2014), “Cartes Blanches” (2016), and “Vertikal” (2018). His work with the choreographer evolved into a closer partnership, leading him to assist in the creation of “Terrain Vague” (2006), “Tricôté” (2008), “Agwa” (2008), “7Steps” (2014), “Phénix” (2022), and “Beauséjour” (2024). Kader complements his artistic approach with teaching and leading numerous workshops.
Emma Guillet
Trained in La Rochelle, Emma practices modern jazz and classical dance. At the age of 17, she was admitted to the contemporary section of the CNSMD in Lyon, where she specialised in partnering and floorwork. After completing her training, she joined the Jeune Ballet de Lyon where she performed pieces by Claude Brumachon, La Horde, Russell Maliphant, Mathilde Monnier, and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. In 2022, Emma joined the Käfig company for Zéphyr.
Ethan Cazaux
With a choreographer mother and a dancer father, Ethan was naturally drawn to dance, kung fu, and acrobatics. He trained in breakdancing with a member of Vagabond Crew and joined Break’in Krew, becoming a finalist in several dance battles. He also trained internationally in contemporary dance. At barely 18 years of age, he joined the Sara Ducat company and the Käfig company.
Camilla Melani
Of Italian origin, Camilla practices ballet, modern jazz, and contemporary dance. At 18, she joined the Jeune Ballet Jazz de Paris, then, at 20, the Cobosmika junior company in Spain, where she specialised in acrobatics, partnering, and floorwork. She then created her own company, Aleart. In 2020, she joined the Dyptik and Käfig companies.
Wissam Seddiki
Wissam started training in breakdancing at a young age in his hometown near Toulouse. He then entered the contemporary dance section at the CRR in Paris. In 2017, he entered the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers, where he had the opportunity to meet numerous choreographers. After graduating, he worked with, among others, the Sara Ducat and Hervé Koubi companies, before joining the Käfig company for Zéphyr.
Mourad Messaoud
An Algerian athlete born in Oran, Mourad developed a passion for breakdancing at the age of 16, combining acrobatics with artistic expression. He first settled in Los Angeles before moving to France following his victory at the RedBull BC One in 2016. He pursued his professional career with Hervé Koubi, for whom he danced in four creations, before joining the Käfig company.
Tibault Miglietti
Tibault practiced breakdancing on his own before meeting Paul-Oscar Viroulaud, who trained and mentored him. Starting in 2017, he participated in various battles with the Parallèle Step crew. He discovered the stage during a project led by Hamid Ben Mahi in 2018. The following year, he decided to pursue training at the Adage centre in Bordeaux, after which he joined the Käfig company.
Soufiane Faouzi Mrani
Soufiane began urban dance at the age of 18, discovering a new framework of expression that fuelled his creative energy. In 2018, he joined Ahlam El Morsli and Wajdi Gagui’s company Col’jam, followed by Bouziane Bouteldja’s company Dans6T, Khalid Benghrib’s 2K-far, and Ismaël Mouaraki’s Destins Croisés. He is a member of the Moroccan-French multidisciplinary research collective TURBA, supported by the Institut Français and L’Uzine. In 2020, he created his first solo piece, Adaptation, supported by the Institut Français de Meknès and in collaboration with KLAP – Michel Kelemenis, as part of a Franco-Moroccan joint initiative supporting Moroccan artists.
Mathis Joly
Mathis “Trix” Joly is a 24-year-old freestyle hip-hop dancer and performer. Growing up in Essonne, he chose to hone his skills at the Juste Debout School by joining their professional training programme, from which he graduated three years later. Known for his flexibility, energy, and creativity, Trix’s dance style allows him to stand out both in the world of dance battles and that of choreographic creation.
Sofian Kaddaoui
Initially inspired by breakdancing, Sofian is a dancer who started upside down before turning professional by taking part in numerous battles around the world. In 2018, he joined the Käfig company for the show Folia. Since then, he has collaborated on various pieces by Mourad Merzouki.
Mathis Kaddaoui
Following in his older brother’s footsteps, Mathis Kaddaoui first gained solid experience in breakdancing battles, notably winning Battle of the Year in 2018. Today, he is venturing into the world of choreographic creation, joining the Käfig company with the shows “Beauséjour”, and “La Couleur de la Grenade”, in which he shares the stage with his brother.
From classical dance to jazz, hip-hop and contemporary dance, the Conservatoire populaire offers a variety of courses suited to all tastes and ages.
For very young children, the Conservatoire populaire offers introduction to movement classes designed to stimulate their artistic sensibilities in a playful way. Starting at age 7, students begin to acquire a solid foundation in classical dance, combining body control with the joy of movement. From age 10, children and adults alike can dive into a wide range of courses in modern jazz, contemporary dance, hip-hop and much more.
For the most passionate, the pre-professional programme offers more in-depth training that helps prepare students for the entrance exams of major professional schools.
For more information, visit the Conservatoire populaire’s website: https://conservatoirepopulaire.ch/danse/
After completing a BTS in lighting design and sound engineering and working for four years as a stage manager in Lyon theaters, Yoann Tivoli created his first lighting designs in 1994 and has worked in various artistic fields: music, theater, exhibitions, and events. His dance credits include work with Inbal Pinto Dance Company, Frank II Louise, Bob.H Ekoto, Question, Pilobolus, Entre Nosotros and, since 1996, all lighting designs for Compagnie Käfig. As a co-founder of the Groupe Moi, he has participated in the creation of all their performances and manages the general and lighting direction for the tours of the creations he has collaborated on. He also serves as the technical director for several companies.
After studying landscape architecture, Benjamin Lebreton pursued a training in scenography at the École Nationale des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre in Lyon. After graduating in 2005, he worked in France and abroad as a set designer for dance, notably with Mourad Merzouki, with whom he has collaborated since 2006 on each of his creations, and more recently with Maguy Marin. For theater, he designs sets for Phillipe Awat, Catherine Heargreave, Thomas Poulard, David Mambouch, among others. In Germany, he created the scenography for A Midsummer Night’s Dream by W. Shakespeare at the StaatTheater in Wiesbaden. In parallel, he works as a graphic designer, creating visuals for the Käfig company and signage for several large buildings.
For nearly 30 years, the Swiss Youth Choir has generated enthusiasm with its freshness, musicality, and precision, through the diversity of its performances and its irresistible charm. The Swiss Youth Choir builds bridges between linguistic regions. It brings together pupils, high school students, apprentices, university students, and young professionals. Music students can also gain valuable experience and make useful contacts within the Swiss Youth Choir.
Time spent in the Swiss Youth Choir has always been a significant life experience for its members: the shared pursuit of perfection, the friendships formed across linguistic barriers and professional backgrounds, lead to incredible cohesion and impressive social skills among these young adults.
The Swiss Youth Choir unites two ensembles under one roof: the Concert Choir, with about fifty choristers aged 16 to 26, and, since 2020, the Symphonic Choir, which includes up to 100 choristers aged 16 to 30.
The Swiss Youth Choir is supported by the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and is the only choir to receive direct support from the Swiss Choir Association (USC). Since its creation, the Swiss Youth Choir has been sponsored by the Swiss Choir Association and the Swiss Federation Europa Cantat (FSEC). The Swiss Youth Choir is a non-profit association, politically and confessionally neutral.
Choir conductor, musical mediator, provider of ideas – Nicolas Fink does not shy away from anything when it comes to developing sound and sharing a living experience of choral music. An uncompromising sonic perfection, a primacy of the fit between content and music, and a quest for the exceptional are at the heart of the Berne-born musician’s artistic work. Nicolas Fink does not confine himself to a single style of music and is eager for eclecticism.
After graduating with honors in choral conducting from the Lucerne University of Music and Performing Arts and obtaining a concert diploma as a baritone, Nicolas Fink found his vocation as a choir conductor through several stages, including a Conducting Fellowship at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Center (2006). Radio choirs embody the ideal of his work in its purest form. His time as assistant conductor at Rundfunkchor Berlin made a significant impression; between 2010 and 2015, Nicolas Fink was able to combine the full spectrum of radio choir work, with insights into the development of new concert formats and music mediation, which had a lasting influence on him. Since then, Nicolas Fink has appeared as a guest conductor with the WDR and MDR radio choirs, the Chœur de Radio France, Vocalconsort Berlin, Coro Casa da Música Porto, Chamber Choir Ireland, Cor del Palau de la Música in Barcelona and Edvard Grieg Kor. A much sought-after partner for choir preparation, he has worked to date with more than 25 leading conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Valery Gergiev, Marek Janowski and Daniele Gatti. Since September 2020, he has led the WDR Rundfunkchor as Principal Conductor.
Nicolas Fink has been collaborating with the Swiss Youth Choir since 2016, and has been its artistic director since 2018.
Gli Angeli Genève was founded in 2005 by Stephan MacLeod. A variable-geometry ensemble playing on period instruments (or copies of instruments), the ensemble is made up of musicians with careers in the field of Baroque music, but who have the particularity of not only playing early music. This eclecticism guarantees the vitality of their enthusiasm. It is also a driving force behind their curiosity.
Right from the beginning of a musical adventure that for several years concentrated solely on live performances of the complete Bach Cantatas in Geneva, with three concerts per season, Gli Angeli Genève has been the setting for encounters between some of the most famous singers and instrumentalists of the international baroque scene and young graduates of the High Schools of Music of Basel, Lyon, Lausanne and Geneva.
Internationally acclaimed since its first two recordings in 2009 and 2010, the ensemble now gives more than fifteen concerts a season in Geneva, as part of its Bach Cantatas, a series of annual concerts at Victoria Hall, the annual Haydn-Mozart festival created by the ensemble in 2021, and finally the Chambre des Anges, a new concert series inaugurated in 2022 and dedicated to chamber music.
The ensemble is equally in demand in Switzerland and abroad for performances not only of Bach, but also Tallis, Josquin, Schein, Schütz, Johann Christoph Bach, Weckmann, Buxtehude, Rosenmüller, Haydn, Mozart and others. In recent seasons, Gli Angeli Genève has been in residence at the Utrecht Festival and the Thuringer Bachwochen, and has performed in Basel, Zurich, Lucerne, Barcelona, Nürnberg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Brussels, Milan, Wroclaw, Paris, Ottawa, Vancouver, Amsterdam and The Hague. Gli Angeli Genève is a regular guest at the Saintes and Utrecht Festivals, the Bremen Musikfest and the Vancouver Bach Festival. The ensemble made its debut in 2019 at Lucerne’s KKL, and was invited in 2023 to the MA Festival in Bruges, the Besançon Festival and Vézelay. On the occasion of the Haydn-Mozart Festival, Gli Angeli Genève collaborates with guest conductors and artists: Michel Corboz in 2021, Kristian Bezuidenhout in 2022, Philippe Herreweghe in 2023, and Leonardo García Alarcón in 2024.
Gli Angeli Genève’s first recording for Claves Records, Musiques sacrées du XVIIe siècle à Wroclaw, won the 2019 ICMA award for best Baroque vocal recording of the year, and Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion has been enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike, in Switzerland and around the world.
The ensemble’s discography also includes Bach’s Mass in B, nominated at ICMA 2022, Bach’s Cantatas for Bass, and Antoine Reicha’s rare Symphonies Concertantes, with soloists Christophe Coin, Davit Melkonyan, Chouchane Siranossian and Alexis Kossenko. Released in October 2022, Mozart’s Concertos for flute and orchestra, with Alexis Kossenko (flute) and Valeria Kafelnikov (harp) have been nominated for an ICMA 2023 award in the “Concerto” category. Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion, released in April 2023, and Josquin Desprez’s Malheur me bat, published by Aparté in September 2023, have already won rave reviews from the press and public alike.
Gli Angeli Genève benefits from a regional support agreement with the City of Geneva, the Republic and Canton of Geneva and the Théâtre du Crochetan.
Stephan MacLeod was born in Geneva and studied singing in his native city, in Cologne and then in Lausanne. His concert career began during his studies in Germany with a fruitful collaboration with Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln. Since then, he has sung regularly with conductors such as Leonhardt, Herreweghe, Savall, Suzuki, Kuijken, Corboz, Brüggen, Kossenko, Pierlot, Luks, Mortensen, Harding, Junghänel, Rademann, Pichon, Van Immerseel, Coin, Rilling, Van Nevel and Bernius. He is founder and conductor of the Ensemble Gli Angeli Genève, which gives around thirty concerts a year throughout the world, and is regularly invited to conduct other ensembles (OSR, Philharmonie Zuidnerderland, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, etc.). More than 100 CDs, many of them critically acclaimed, document his work. He was singing teacher at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne from 2013 to 2023, and teaches at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève since last September.
Born in Prague, Hana trained at the Prague Conservatory in Jiří Kotouč’s class, before continuing her studies with Poppy Holden, Peter Kooij, Monika Mauch and Howard Crook. Today, she is recognized as a leading specialist in the performance of baroque, renaissance and medieval music. She performs with ensembles and orchestras all over the world, including Collegium Vocale Gent, Bach Collegium Japan, Sette Voci, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Arpeggiata, Gli Angeli Genève, La Fenice, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Tafelmusik, Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum, Musica Florea, L’Armonia Sonora, among others. She collaborates regularly with the world-renowned horn player Bruce Dickey, with whom she recorded the CD “Breathtaking”, the programme of which continues to tour the world. Hana appears on over thirty CDs, including the famous Bach cantata series with the Bach Collegium Japan. She also plays the Gothic and Romanesque harps and presents concerts in which she accompanies herself on this instrument.
Was born in Poland, where she studied violin and piano before turning to singing, which she studied with Wojtek Drabowicz in Poznan and then at the Weimar Conservatoire. She attended masterclasses with Evelyn Tubb and Barbara Schlick, and made her debut at the Poznan Opera in Aurora by E.T.A Hoffmann.
Aleksandra is active in the world of oratorio, singing under the direction of Herreweghe, van Veldhoven, MacLeod, Corboz, Duxbury, Luks, Reuss, Antonini, Sempé, Parrott, Weimann, Spering, Neumann and Fischer, and frequently works with Gli Angeli Genève, Collegium Vocale Gent, Collegium 1704, Arte dei Suonatori, the Polish Radio Orchestra and the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra.
She has performed at numerous European and international festivals, including Musikfest Bremen, Bachwoche Stuttgart, Festival de Saintes, Oude Muziek Utrecht, Thüringer Bachwochen, Lumine Voice Festival of Lofoten, Vratislavia Cantans, Chopin and his Europe and Early Music Vancouver.
Praised by The Times for his “ethereal tone and beautiful control”, Alex Potter is one of the leading countertenors on the European musical scene. He was lucky enough to have a mother who sang to him as a child and a father who bought him history books, so of course ended up singing Early music. Besides singing, he loves cooking, being outdoors and anything to do with history. He lives in the Lüneburger Heide and is an embarrassing father to two teenage daughters.
Valerio Contaldo studied singing with Gary Magby in Lausanne. He was a finalist in the Leipzig Bach Competition in 2008, and his solo career has increasingly developed ever since.
His highly eclectic oratorio repertoire includes the most important works of sacred music. He has performed in concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, the Beaune and Ambronay Festivals, Salzburg’s Mozartwoche, the Folles Journées in Nantes, Bilbao, Warsaw and Tokyo, and in opera at the Paris Opéra, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and the Edinburgh and Aix-en-Provence Festivals.
He is one of the world’s leading interpreters of the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, which he has sung in Barcelona, Adelaide, Shanghai and Beijing, as well as in Brussels, Rotterdam, Cologne, Strasbourg, at the Festival de Saint-Denis, and on tour in South America. The recording of this work with Cappella Mediterranea (Alarcón), released by Alpha in 2021, was enthusiastically received by the critics (Choc Classica, Diamant Opéra Magazine, etc.).
He sings in concert and on disc under conductors such as Corboz, Garrido, Garcia Alarcón, Alessandrini, Bernardini, Minkowski and Pierlot.
Stephan MacLeod was born in Geneva and studied singing in his native city, in Cologne and then in Lausanne. His concert career began during his studies in Germany with a fruitful collaboration with Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln. Since then, he has sung regularly with conductors such as Leonhardt, Herreweghe, Savall, Suzuki, Kuijken, Corboz, Brüggen, Kossenko, Pierlot, Luks, Mortensen, Harding, Junghänel, Rademann, Pichon, Van Immerseel, Coin, Rilling, Van Nevel and Bernius. He is founder and conductor of the Ensemble Gli Angeli Genève, which gives around thirty concerts a year throughout the world, and is regularly invited to conduct other ensembles (OSR, Philharmonie Zuidnerderland, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, etc.). More than 100 CDs, many of them critically acclaimed, document his work. He was singing teacher at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne from 2013 to 2023, and teaches at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève since last September.
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.
Born in 1984, Pierre-Fabien Roubaty began his musical education by studying piano at the Conservatoire of Fribourg while discovering the world of singing in the choir of Villars-sur-Glâne. In 2006, he ventured into choral conducting by founding the Arsis choir, which he still passionately leads. At the helm of this ensemble, primarily dedicated to 18th and 19th-century music, he distinguished himself in the performance of major oratorio repertoire works, culminating in victory at the Fribourg Choral Competition in 2011.
Pierre-Fabien Roubaty had the privilege of learning from renowned masters during his studies at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne, notably Marc Pantillon, Todd Camburn, and Anthony di Giantomasso. He then continued his studies in orchestral conducting at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern, benefiting from the valuable teachings of Florian Ziemen and Ralf Weikert.
As a choir conductor or répétiteur, he has prepared choirs and soloists for numerous opera and oratorio productions, meeting many renowned musicians in the process, such as Michel Corboz, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Raphaël Pichon, Marc Minkovski, Daniel Reuss, Christa Ludwig, and Ramón Vargas.
In September 2019, Pierre-Fabien Roubaty was appointed artistic and musical director of the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne. Under his direction, the ensemble has brought exceptional projects to the stage, including the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Arthur Honegger’s “Le Roi David,” the creation of Théo Flury’s oratorio “Splendor,” and prestigious performances at the Folle Journée de Nantes. He also led the ensemble in its participation in the Festival Via aeterna at Mont-St-Michel, celebrating the millennium of this iconic site.
In 2024, Pierre-Fabien Roubaty will have the honor of being the guest conductor for both the Apollo Chorus of Chicago and the choir of the OSESP Foundation in São Paulo.
FIRST VIOLINS
Clémence De Forceville
Roman Filipov
Lissy Abreu Ruiz
Maria Jurca
Julien Lapeyre
Ombeline Long
Vasilisa Neliubina
Elise Persiaux
Amandine Pierson
Katia Trabé
Adalberto Vital Neto
SECOND VIOLINS
Claire Dassesse
Madoka Sakitsu
Maxime Alliot Barbier
Juliette Carlon
António Francisco Ferreira
Antoine Guiller
Paloma Martin
Merry Mechling
Florence Von Burg
Carole Zanchi Lehmann
VIOLAS
Elise Vaschalde
Natanael Ferreira Dos Santos
Ana La Salete Ferreira Vaz
Juliette Kowalski
Anne Malherbet
Denis Martin
Jean-Philippe Morel
Dor Sperber
CELLOS
Joël Marosi
Noé Natorp
Alain Doury
Anna Minten
Kamil Mukhametdinov
Francisca Santos Luís Parente
DOUBLE BASSES
Ivy Wong
Rémi Magnan
Gabriele Arborio
Claudio Gomes
FLUTES
Alberto Acuna
Bastien Ferraris
Jona Venturi
OBOES
Clarisse Moreau
Olivier Thomas
CLARINETS
Vitor Fernandes
Nuno Baptista
Guillaume Le Corre
BASSOONS
Elfie Bonnardel
Carla Rouaud
Joana Barbosa
HORNS
Clément Charpentier-Leroy
Agnès Chopin
Johan Kulcsar
Simon Kandel
TRUMPETS
Simon Pellaux
Charles-Edouard Thuillier
TROMBONES
Alexandre Mastrangelo
Elise Jacquemettaz
Ross Butcher
TUBA
Igor Martinez
TIMPANI
Arthur Bonzon
PERCUSSIONS
Marion Frétigny
Mathis Pellaux
Jean-Baptiste Solano
Jérémie Cresta
Charles De Ceuninck
HARP
Laudine Dard
PIANOS
Olga Kerevel
Johann Vacher
CELESTA
Johann Vacher
Louise Foor, a Belgian soprano, will perform on the stages of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, La Monnaie in Brussels, and the Opera of Metz in the upcoming season. Her recent debut as Leila in G. Bizet’s “Les pêcheurs de perles” in Bordeaux received excellent critics. Last season she also debuted at such venues as the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie De Munt, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg, and the Grand Théâtre in Geneva.
In 2020 Louise made her debut at the Opera in Liège and she has joined the “MM Laureate” of La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels. She also became resident artist at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo. In September 2020, she won the first prize at the international competition “Virgilijus Noreika” in Vilnius (Lithuania).
In 2017, Louise received her bachelor’s degree in voice from the IMEP School of Music (Belgium). In the same year, she won the “best young” prize at the international competition “Hariclea Darclée” in Romania. In 2017 she also became a student at the HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin in the class of Anna Samuil. In 2018 she made other international competitions in Germany (Immling), Austria (Graz) and Italy (Portofino), where she won many prizes.
Gerhild Romberger was born in the Emsland. After studying music for schools at the Academy of Music in Detmold, she studied with Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll.
As a passionate concert-singer her extremely extensive repertoire encompasses all the major contralto and mezzo-soprano parts in the oratorio and concert repertoire from the Baroque to the Classical and Romantic periods to the 20th century music.
Significant steps in Gerhild Romberger´s career in recent years were concerts with Manfred Honeck, the Berlin Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Herbert Blomstedt and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester under Riccardo Chailly. Furthermore, she performed with the Vienna and Bamberg Symphony Orchestras under Daniel Harding or at La Scala under Franz Welser-Möst.
Highlights of the current season include a concert tour with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Beethoven´s 9th Symphony under the baton of Andris Nelsons as well as Mahler´s 3rd Symphony with Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam. Furthermore, she can be heard with Mahler´s Kindertotenlieder and the Budapest Festival Orchestra and with Schumann´s Paradies und Peri at Hamburg´s Elbphilharmonie.
Born in Lyon, Julien Henric studies theater and lyrical singing in his home town. In 2018, he is appointed Révélation Lyrique by the ADAMI and wins three prizes at the Young Artists Raymond Duffaut. Building on these successes, he wins the 2nd prize and prize of the melody at the International Competition of the Autumn Symphonies in Mâcon the year after. In 2020, he graduates from the Lyon Conservatoire and joins the Young Ensemble of the Grand Théâtre de Genève for the 20-21 and 21-22 seasons, two irst seasons marked by great artistic encounters. He is also the laureate of the 1st Prize (French melody) and 3rd Prize (Opera) at the International Competition in Marmande in 2022.
Julien Henric notably performed at the Festival International d’Aix en Provence, as well as at the Cologne and Hamburg Philharmonies in Norma (Flavio) ; at the Opéra National de Paris in Hamlet (Marcellus), at the Madrid Auditorium in Faust and Hélène (Faust), at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, at the Opéra de Rouen in Rigoletto (Borsa) and in Roméo et Juliette (Tybalt), at the Festival d’été des Nuits Lyriques de Marmande in La Traviata (Alfredo), or at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, at the Opera Royal de Versailles and at the Ravenna Festival in Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio) and Cosi fan tutte (Ferrando).
In the last years, he has had the opportunity to work with stage directors such as Calixto Bieito, Mariame Clément, Ulrich Rasche, Daniel Kramer or Krzysztof Warlikowski, as well as great conductors such as Marc Minkowski, Stefano Montanari, Antonino Fogliani, Riccardo Minasi or Pierre Dumoussaud.
Julien Henric’s 2023-2024 season features many debuts : at the Bergamo Festival in Lucie di Lammermoor (Arthur Bucklaw), at the Opéra d’Avignon in The Magic Flute (Tamino), at the Opéra National du Rhin in Guercoeur (Heurtal), at the Olympia-City of Athens Music Theatre « Maria Callas » for Pénélope (Ulysse) and at the Opéra de Saint-Etienne for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as well as the Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier for a concert gala in honor of Maria Callas, and also at the Festival d’Auvers sur Oise in Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle. He also returns at the Opéra de Paris in The Exterminating Angel (Lucas) as well as at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in Don Carlos (Le Comte de Lerme/Un Hérault) and in Anna Bolena (Sir Hervey).
Stephan MacLeod was born in Geneva and studied singing in his native city, in Cologne and then in Lausanne. His concert career began during his studies in Germany with a fruitful collaboration with Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln. Since then, he has sung regularly with conductors such as Leonhardt, Herreweghe, Savall, Suzuki, Kuijken, Corboz, Brüggen, Kossenko, Pierlot, Luks, Mortensen, Harding, Junghänel, Rademann, Pichon, Van Immerseel, Coin, Rilling, Van Nevel and Bernius. He is founder and conductor of the Ensemble Gli Angeli Genève, which gives around thirty concerts a year throughout the world, and is regularly invited to conduct other ensembles (OSR, Philharmonie Zuidnerderland, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, etc.). More than 100 CDs, many of them critically acclaimed, document his work. He was singing teacher at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne from 2013 to 2023, and teaches at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève since last September.
