Christmas Prophecies

Daniel Huertas, born in 1996, is a young Spanish conductor with a keen interest in both the classical and contemporary repertoire. He was awarded the Neeme Järvi Prize in 2022 and won Second Prize at the Juventudes Musicales de España Conducting Competition in 2023.

He recently conducted the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Manifeste Festival in Paris, the Castile and León Symphony Orchestra in an educational project featuring Elgar’s Enigma Variations, and the AVS Philharmonie in a programme including Schubert’s Rosamunde and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7. He also conducted the Sakura programme with the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, comprising six concerts and three school performances throughout the Haute-Savoie region.

At the RESIS Festival in A Coruña, he conducted the Arxis Ensemble in the Galician premiere of Lachenmann’s Mouvement (-vor der Erstarrung) and the Spanish premiere of Rihm’s Pol, Kolchis und Nucleus. At the Lucerne Festival, he gave the world premiere of José Luis Valdivia’s Cyberpunk for orchestra and conducted works by Saariaho, Strauss, Rihm, Schoenberg and Benjamin. During the same festival, he premiered several works with the International Ensemble Modern Academy. He also conducted Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat in Campo de Criptana, with actor Emilio Gavira.

In the field of opera, he conducted a production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and gave the world premiere of the opera Dernière Expédition au Pays des Merveilles, composed by Nicolas Roulive, as part of the second edition of OperaLab in Geneva. He was assistant conductor for a production of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges in Tenerife with Jordi Francés.

Alongside his conducting career, he currently holds positions as Assistant Conductor of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris and of the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir in Madrid, where he regularly works with Pierre Bleuse and David Afkham, as well as with guest conductors including Marzena Diakun and Cornelius Meister. His work has included repertoire such as Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5, Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6, Pierre Boulez’s Sur Incises and Cummings ist der Dichter, Saariaho’s Semafor and Lichtbogen. He has also worked closely with composers including Rebecca Saunders, Aureliano Cattaneo, Martín Matalon, Michael Jarrell and Raquel García Tomás, among others.

His upcoming engagements include the world premiere of IKARIA, a new opera by Ariadna Alcina, as part of the Oh!pera series at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, as well as a return to the Ensemble Intercontemporain for a concert featuring new compositions in November at the Paris Conservatoire. He will make his debut with the Spanish National Orchestra conducting Falla’s El retablo de maese Pedro next season, and will conduct Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 at the AIMS Festival in Solsona. In September, he will assist David Afkham in a new semi-staged production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck.

Daniel studied conducting with Arturo Tamayo in Donostia-San Sebastián and Lugano, and with Laurent Gay at the Haute École de Musique de Genève. In 2024, he took part in the conducting academy of the Lucerne Festival. He has attended masterclasses with Jaap van Zweden, Peter Eötvös and Sir George Benjamin, among others.

The Choral Workshop of the Geneva Haute école de musique (HEM) is one of the school’s permanent ensembles, designed to offer ensemble practice to around a hundred students from across all disciplines. It is composed primarily of pianists, organists, and guitarists, but also includes students from theoretical departments, the Music and Movement program, and a few vocalists.

As part of the artistic community formed by all the contributors to the school’s musical life, the Choral Workshop initiates its own artistic projects and also takes part in large-scale productions within HEM and in collaboration with external partners.

Latvian pianist Georgijs Osokins has gained international attention through his participation at age of 19 in the XVII^th International Chopin Piano Competition where he quickly became an absolute Audience Favorite. Shortly after the Chopin Competition, Osokins made important debuts at the Konzerthaus Berlin, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Laeiszhalle and Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, International Piano Series in Bern, Lockenhaus Festival, Gstaad Music Festival, Narodowe Forum Muzyki in Katowice, the Vancouver Playhouse, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Hall, Tongyeong Hall in South Korea. In 2021 Georgijs Osokins performed at the 101^st Salzburger Festspiele.

Georgijs is actively collaborating with Gidon Kremer, touring in the UK, Ireland, Russia, Poland, Germany, Asia and US. Alongside Lucas Debargue, Georgijs Osokins was announced the first permanent Guest Artist of Kremerata Baltica in its 25-year history. In 2024 Georgijs makes his solo debut at Pierre-Boulez Saal in Berlin and returns to Milan’s Serate Musicali Festival and London’s Wigmore Hall.

UK’s label “Piano Classics” released Osokins’ two CD albums focused on Chopin’s Late Works and works of Rachmaninoff. These recordings received brilliant reviews from important British, Canadian, German, Danish and French music magazines. German label Accentus has released the first chamber music album of Georgijs Osokins alongside Gidon Kremer containing trios of Chopin and Beethoven – this CD was nominated for both International Classical Music Awards 2020 and Opus Klassik 2021. He received the Cross of Merit awarded by the President of the Republic of Poland and the Latvian Grand Music Award – highest honour in music in Latvia – and remains youngest recipient in the Awards’ history.