Cédric
Pescia
Professor of Piano
Born in Lausanne, holding Swiss and French nationality, Cédric Pescia studied at the Conservatories of Lausanne (with Christian Favre) and Geneva (with Dominique Merlet), at the Universität der Künste in Berlin (with Klaus Hellwig), and at the International Piano Academy Lake Como (with D. Bashkirov, L. Fleisher, A. Staier, W. G. Naboré, and Fou T’song). Additionally, he perfected his skills with P.-L. Aimard, D. Barenboim, D. Fischer-Dieskau, I. Gage, I. Gronich, C. Zacharias, and the Alban Berg Quartet.
He won the First Prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 2002 in Salt Lake City, USA.
He gives recitals and concerts with orchestras in Europe, the USA, China, and South America: Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin, Konzerthaus Vienna, Wigmore Hall London, Mozarteum Salzburg, Carnegie Hall New York, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Tonhalle Zurich, Prague Spring Festival, Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Davos Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr. He has a long-standing collaboration with violinist Nurit Stark.
He is the artistic director of the chamber music series Ensemble enScène in Lausanne.
He is a laureate of the Leenaards Foundation in Lausanne and the Music Prize of the Vaud Foundation for Culture. For Claves Records, Aeon, BIS, Genuin, La Dolce Volta, he has recorded works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Couperin, Messiaen, Debussy, Cage, Busoni, Enescu, and Gubaidulina.
In 2012, he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Haute école de musique de Genève.
Learn more about Cédric Pescia
Tedi
Papavrami
Professor of Violin
Arriving at a very young age in France, Tedi Papavrami discovered a country and culture that were completely foreign to him. His natural curiosity and the need to master the French language in order to make this country his own, along with initial great solitude, drove him to devour books, always in French: Stendhal, Proust, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Kafka... This curiosity beyond borders, combined with intellectual and artistic demands, allowed him to bridge the gap between his original domain and other horizons, making him a rare interpreter in the musical world.
Thus, in 2000, after the passing of Albanian translator J. Vrioni, he naturally took up the mantle of translating the works of Ismaïl Kadaré, whom he had known as a child in Albania. This foray into the literary world also became a way for him to "professionally exist for the first time outside of the violin." In 2013, he continued this journey with the writing of "Fugue pour Violon Seul" published by Robert Laffont. Unanimously praised by the press, this autobiographical account narrates his journey as a child prodigy in Albania and his passage to the West, towards freedom.
However, this diversification would not have been possible without an early and singular focus on the violin from his young years. The instrument, which had always been a part of his life, was introduced to him at the age of 5 by his father, a brilliant professor with extensive pedagogical experience. Tedi's progress was rapid: three years later, he performed Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen" with an orchestra. At eleven, he publicly performed Paganini's Concerto No. 1 with the formidable Sauret cadenza.
In 1982 in Albania, a country cut off from the world, he was noticed by flutist Alain Marion who arranged for him to be invited to Paris as a French government scholarship student. He then studied with Pierre Amoyal at the C.N.S.M in Paris for four years.
At the end of his studies, at the age of 15, Tedi pursued his musical and instrumental development independently. Shortly before, with his parents, he fled the communist regime in Albania to settle with them in France. Severe sanctions were imposed in retaliation on the rest of the family remaining in Albania, lasting until the fall of the communist regime in 1991. Tedi and his parents left Paris to avoid being within reach of Albanian embassy officials searching for them and settled near Bordeaux.
Benefiting from several awards, T. Papavrami began a career as a soloist and chamber musician from the 1990s onwards. He has since collaborated as a soloist with conductors such as K. Sanderling, A. Jordan, E. Krivine, M. Honeck, F.X. Roth, Th. Fischer, G. Varga, M. Aeschenbacher… In chamber music, he was a member of the Schumann Quartet, a piano quartet, for 9 years, and he performs in concert or on recordings with partners such as Philippe Bianconi, Gary Hoffman, Marc Coppey, Nelson Goerner, Martha Argerich, Maria Joao Pires, Viktoria Mullova, Paul Meyer, and Lawrence Power.
Now based in Geneva, Switzerland, Tedi holds a position as Professor of Violin at the HEM. He plays on a violin made in 2022 for him by luthier David Leonard Wiedmer.
Learn more about Tedi Papavrami
Leonardo
Garcia Alarcon
Professor of Maestro al Cembalo - Professor of Elements of Choral Conducting (for Maestro al Cembalo) - Madrigal Ensemble
Argentinian conductor, harpsichordist, and composer Leonardo García Alarcón has become a sought-after figure by major musical and opera institutions, from the Opéra de Paris to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Grand Théâtre de Genève, where he began his career.
After studying piano in Argentina, Leonardo García Alarcón moved to Europe in 1997 and joined the Conservatoire de Genève in the class of harpsichordist Christiane Jaccottet. Under the guidance of Gabriel Garrido, he ventured into Baroque music. In 2005, he founded his ensemble Cappella Mediterranea to explore Italian, Spanish, and South American Baroque music, a repertoire that has since expanded significantly. In residence at the Festival d’Ambronay, he achieved his first successes there, notably with the 2010 rediscovery of an oratorio by Michelangelo Falvetti: "Il Diluvio Universale." That same year, he took the direction of the Chœur de Chambre de Namur, recognized as one of the best Baroque choral ensembles today, and in 2014, he founded the Millenium Orchestra, focusing primarily on the works of Handel.
Leonardo García Alarcón is also credited with the rediscovery of numerous operas by Cavalli, such as "Eliogabalo" at the Opéra de Paris in 2016, "Il Giasone" in Geneva, "Elena" and "Erismena" at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2017, and at the Opéra de Dijon: "El Prometeo" by Antonio Draghi in 2018, for which he rewrote the missing music of the third act, "La Finta Pazza" by Francesco Sacrati in 2019, and "Il Palazzo Incantato" by Luigi Rossi in late 2020, before its revival in Nancy and Versailles at the end of 2021.
In 2022, he conducted a new production of Lully's famous "Atys," staged and choreographed by Angelin Preljocaj in Geneva and then in Versailles. Shortly after, he conducted Bach’s "St. Matthew Passion" with Cappella Mediterranea at La Seine Musicale and the Dijon auditorium, receiving high praise from critics. He returned to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in July with the successful production of Monteverdi’s "L'Incoronazione di Poppea," directed by Ted Huffman. In September 2022, he made his debut conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam for their annual gala, performing Handel’s "Acis and Galatea" (orchestrated by W.A. Mozart). This year also marked a new chapter in his career with the creation of his oratorio "La Passione di Gesù," his first major contemporary composition, warmly received by audiences at the Festival d’Ambronay and Victoria Hall in Geneva, with upcoming performances at the Festival de Saint-Denis and Grand Manège de Namur.
As a conductor and harpsichordist, he is invited to festivals and concert halls worldwide. In November 2018, he conducted Monteverdi’s "Orfeo," directed by Sasha Waltz, at the Staatsoper Berlin and is a regular guest of Les Violons du Roy in Canada, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Gulbenkian Orchestra. He was recognized as the best conductor in the 2019 Forum Opéra rankings after his triumphant direction of "Les Indes Galantes" at the Opéra Bastille.
Leonardo García Alarcón divides his time between France, Belgium, his native South America, and Switzerland, where he obtained citizenship. He places great importance on education, serving as a professor of the Maestro Al Cembalo class at the Haute école de musique de Genève since 2002.
In 2020, he took on the directorship of La Cité Bleue, a 300-seat performance venue in Geneva currently under renovation, set to open in 2024, with its programming beginning in 2023 with an initial "off-site" season.
His prolific discography is widely acclaimed by critics. In 2021, he released "Rebirth" (Sony Classical) with Sonya Yoncheva; "Lamenti & Sospiri" (Ricercar) with Mariana Flores and Julie Roset; Monteverdi’s "Orfeo" (Alpha Classics) with Valerio Contaldo, and "Bach before Bach" (Alpha Classics) with violinist Chouchane Siranossian. In 2022, he released Handel’s "Semele" with Millenium Orchestra and the Chœur de Chambre de Namur (Ricercar), followed by the world premiere recording of Sacrati’s "La Finta Pazza" (Versailles Spectacles). In 2023, "Amore Siciliano" (Alpha Classics), a project he conceived from popular and scholarly music of 17th- and 18th-century Italy, is set to be released.
Leonardo García Alarcón is a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Learn more about Leonardo García Alarcón.
Pablo Ernesto
Cernik
Professor of Keyboard Harmony and Jaques-Dalcroze Writing - Instrumental Improvisation - Physical and Mental Preparation: Bodily Approach to Music through Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics - Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics - Jaques-Dalcroze Solfège
Pablo Cernik is currently employed as an adjunct professor, teaching in the Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, and CAS programs in the Music and Movement Department at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM). He collaborates with the department's administration on tasks related to the visibility of the programs and also with the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in coordinating the Diplôme Supérieur.
He is the director of the Dalcroze Certificate programs in Italy, Spain, Chile, and Argentina. He has significantly contributed to the dissemination of the method by conducting workshops and conferences in various regions and countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. As an opera, chamber music, and dance pianist, his presentations have placed particular emphasis on multidisciplinary creation. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Arts at the Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA) in Buenos Aires. He is a member of the Jaques-Dalcroze College and the central committee of the International Federation of Eurhythmics Teachers (FIER). He is also the president of the Dalcroze Association of Argentina.
Lise
Berthaud
Professor of Chamber Music - Professor of Viola (NE)
Lise Berthaud was born in 1982 and started studying the violin at the age of 5. She studied with Pierre-Henry Xuereb and Gérard Caussé at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris and was a prize winner of the European Young Instrumentalists Competition in 2000. In 2005, she won the Hindemith Prize at the Geneva International Competition. She was short listed by the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2009 as “Révélation de l’Année” (Newcomer of the Year).
Lise Berthaud is unanimously praised as an outstanding figure on the international music scene. She has performed in various prestigious concert venues throughout the world (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Het Concertgebouw, Baden Baden Festspielhaus, Elbphilharmonie, Musikverein, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, The Sage Gateshead, Philharmonie de Paris, Moritzburg Festival, Schwartzenberg’s Schubertiade Hohenems, Rencontres Musicales d’Evian) with such artists as Renaud Capuçon, Baiba Skride, Lauma Skride, Harriet Krijgh, Julian Steckel, Daishin Kashimoto, Eric Le Sage, Augustin Dumay, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Emmanuel Pahud, Gordan Nikollich, Martin Helmchen, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Alina Ibragimova, Veronika Eberle, Christian Poltera, Quatuor Ebène, the Modigliani Quartet.
As a soloist, Lise has played with all BBC orchestras, including for her BBC Proms Debut in 2014 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Litton. Other solo engagements include the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lyon, les Musiciens du Louvre, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Sao Paulo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie, Hong-Kong Sinfonietta, Hallé Orchestra, and various orchestras in France, with conductors like Sakari Oramo, Pascal Rophé, Fabien Gabel, Emmanuel Krivine, Andrew Litton, François Leleux, Paul Mc Creesh, Marc Minkowski, Leonard Slatkin who invited Lise to perform and record (for Naxos) Harold in Italy with the Orchestre National de Lyon as part of the orchestra’s Berlioz complete works recording for Naxos.
During the 2013-2015 period Lise was part of the prestigious BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists Scheme which allowed her to perform with all BBC orchestras and record a great amount of repertoire both live and in studio.
After taking part in Eric Le Sage’s successful recordings of Schumann and Fauré complete piano chamber music works, she released her first solo album in 2013 with pianist Adam Laloum under the French Aparté label. The disc featuring works by Brahms, Schumann and Schubert was unanimously praised and won several awards in France.
In 2018-2021 she took part in the recording of Brahms’ complete chamber music for B-Records with Eric Le Sage, Pierre Fouchenneret, François Salque and others, which has been critically acclaimed since then.
Her passion for contemporary music has also lead her to collaborate with various composers, including Philippe Hersant, Thierry Escaich, Henri Dutilleux, Gyorgy Kurtag, Guillaume Connesson, Florentine Mulsant or Eric Tanguy
Learn more about Lise Berthaud
Stéphane
Orlando
Professeur d'Ateliers d'improvisation (coordinateur) - Harmonie au clavier et écriture Jaques-Dalcroze - Improvisation instrumentale
Lauréat du prix SABAM for culture pour la musique contemporaine en 2020, le pianiste et compositeur Stéphane Orlando collabore régulièrement avec plusieurs musicien-ne-s, ensembles et orchestres.
Depuis 2022, il est devenu compositeur en résidence à l'Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège.
Stéphane Orlando puise son inspiration dans la musique classique, traditionnelle et le jazz, mais aussi dans sa propre pratique de l'improvisation au piano.
Il aime aussi bien composer pour un seul instrument ou en musique de chambre, avec ou sans électronique, que pour orchestre, mais il aime surtout inscrire sa musique dans un contexte narratif riche, avec une forte sensibilité pour les images, les mots et les mouvements.
Stéphane Orlando enseigne l’improvisation instrumentale à la Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM).
En savoir plus sur Stéphane Orlando
Diana
Ketler
Professor of Chamber Music with Piano
Diana was born in Riga into a well-known family of musicians. She began studying music and piano at the age of five at the E Darzins Special Music School in Riga and made her concert debut at the age of 11 with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Vassily Sinaisky. Diana graduated from the Latvian Academy of Music with highest honors in 1993 after studying with Theofil Bikis. From 1992 to 1994, she studied at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg under Karl-Heinz Kammerling. In 1994, Diana continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London in the class of Christopher Elton, graduating in 1996 with the Dip RAM. In 1996/1997 and 2000/2001, Diana received the Hodgson Piano Fellowship from the Academy.
Diana has performed as a soloist with the Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra, the Riga Chamber Orchestra, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra, and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. She has given numerous concerts in the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Russia, and most European countries. Notably, she has performed at the Gstaad Musiksommer Festival, the Ravello Music Festival, the St Gallen Music Festival, the Carinthian Summer Festival, and the Kobe International Art Festival. Diana has given recitals at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Purcell Room, the Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto, the Tokyo Opera City Hall, the Osaka Symphony Hall, the Atheneum in Bucharest, and other prestigious venues.
She has collaborated with artists such as Wolfram Christ, Konstantin Lifschitz, Daishin Kashimoto, Adrian Brendel, Baiba Skride, Remus Azoitei, Sasha Sitkovetsky, Bernhard Hedenborg, Narimichi Kawabata, Inga Kalna, and Marlis Petersen. As a member of Ensemble Raro, she regularly tours Europe and Japan. Diana has given several UK and German premieres of works by contemporary Baltic composers and collaborates closely with Peteris Vasks and Arvo Pärt.
Diana's performances have been broadcast on radio and television in Japan, the United Kingdom (BBC 3, Classic FM), Germany (Bavarian Radio), Romania, Latvia, and Austria. Since 2003, Diana has been a piano professor at the Royal Academy of Music. She has given masterclasses in Spain, the Czech Republic, England, Latvia, and the former Yugoslavia, and has been a jury member for the Jeunesses Musicales International Piano Competition in Bucharest. Since 2004, Diana has been the artistic director of the Chiemgauer Musikfrühling Festival in Bavaria, Germany.
Learn more about Diana Ketler.
Nicolas
Rabaeus
Professeur de composition à l'image - musique et cinéma
Né à Genève le 6 mai 1984, Nicolas Rabaeus est un compositeur suisse, spécialisé dans la musique pour l'image en mouvement. Il crée principalement sa musique en enregistrant et en synthétisant des instruments et objets dans son studio à Genève, qu'il combine ensuite avec d'autres musiciens et ensembles.
De formation classique et jazz, il se sent autant à l'aise avec un orchestre dans une salle de concert qu’en créant des textures expérimentales avec un synthétiseur modulaire, ou même avec une guitare interprétant des chansons pop. Cette approche horizontale de la musique est sa signature et l'aide à trouver un son unique pour chaque partition.
Sa musique a été plusieurs fois primée, notamment par le prix du cinéma suisse (2023, pour Foudre), le prix Colombier-Dompierre à Montréal (2023, pour Foudre), prix Kinotavr à Sochi (2015, pour Le syndrome de Petrushka).
Au cours des quinze dernières années, il a travaillé sur plus de cinquante projets avec des cinéastes européens et suisses.
Daniele
Bragetti
Professor of Recorder
Born in 1965, Daniele Bragetti obtained his diploma in recorder at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano and the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, studying with professors such as Nina Stern, Kees Boeke, Marijke Miessen, and Jeanette van Wingerden.
He regularly performs both as a soloist and with various Baroque and Renaissance music ensembles, including Ensemble Baroque de Limoges (conducted by Christophe Coin), Ensemble Elyma (Gabriel Garrido), Ensemble Concerto (Roberto Gini), Academia Montis Regalis (Andrea de Marchi), and Accademia Claudio Monteverdi (Hans Ludwig Hirsch).
He has played in prestigious venues and important festivals, such as Mito – Settembremusica in Milan, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musica e Poesia a S. Maurizio in Milan, Tokyo Recorder Festival, I Concerti del Quartetto in Milan, UNESCO per Venezia, Tokyo Opera City, and Casals Hall in Tokyo.
Since 1991, Daniele Bragetti has performed in a recorder duo with Seiko Tanaka, also collaborating with flutists Walter van Hauwe and Antonio Politano. In 2013, he founded the recorder ensemble La Rubertina in Tokyo with Seiko Tanaka.
Daniele Bragetti is also active in the field of contemporary music, with composers such as Michiharu Matsunaga, Luca Cori, and Koji Ueno dedicating numerous works to him.
He has made recordings for Opus 111, Passacaille, Stradivarius, Entrée, Mercury, and Olive Music.
Since 2003, Daniele Bragetti has taught recorder and historical ornamentation at the Civica Scuola di Musica “Claudio Abbado” di Milano. He has been a guest professor at the Haute école de musique de Genève and the Universidad Pontificia de Santiago de Chile.
Since 2016, he has been a professor of recorder at the Haute école de musique de Genève.
Learn more about Daniele Bragetti
Vincent
Thevenaz
Professor of Organ - Improvisation (for organists) - Introduction to Music Reading - Music Reading - Music Reading and Transposition - Chamber Music with Organ
Vincent Thévenaz is a professor of organ and improvisation at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève, and the titular organist and carillon player at the St. Peter's Cathedral in Geneva. He is frequently invited for concerts, competition juries, and masterclasses across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
With a comprehensive education spanning organ, piano, classical and jazz improvisation, musicology, music theory, conducting, singing, French and Russian literature, Vincent Thévenaz continuously seeks to invigorate and diversify the organ world. He pushes the boundaries of genres and enriches his interpretations with a profound knowledge of works and their contexts. His repertoire ranges widely from medieval to contemporary and current music of various origins.
Vincent Thévenaz has developed a significant focus on improvisation, exploring the power of the present moment. He practices improvisation in liturgy, concerts, and accompanying silent films. His teaching is enriched by an approach that views written music as an endless source of inspiration and improvisation as a questioning of freedom in interpretation.
As a recognized specialist in the harmonium, he owns a collection of high-quality historical instruments and performs them in recitals and ensembles. His expertise has led him to collaborate with musicians such as Leonidas Kavakos and Yuja Wang, and with the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, earning praise from Simon Rattle: "played by you, the harmonium becomes a living and exciting instrument."
He combines the organ with numerous instruments of diverse origins, including classical (violin, flute) and unusual (saxophone, Alpine horn, percussion) sounds, and plays cousin instruments such as carillon, cinema organ, Hammond organ, keyboards, and percussion.
Vincent Thévenaz is also known for his arrangements, transcribing music of various styles for organ or chamber music formations, and collaborating with orchestras and ensembles. He arranged and directed the annual show "Chantons Noël," creating an original setting for traditional melodies. He also arranged a version for ensemble of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition."
In 2009-2010, he performed Bach's complete organ works in 14 concerts, followed by Mendelssohn's organ works in 2017, both receiving great acclaim. His duo "W" with saxophonist Vincent Barras has produced two CDs of original repertoire. He has recorded two critically acclaimed CDs with Sony's Ensemble Gli Angeli Genève (Stephan MacLeod). For the 50th anniversary of Geneva Cathedral's Metzler organ, he produced a CD showcasing the treasures of Geneva composers' organ music.
Vincent Thévenaz collaborates with numerous ensembles and conductors (Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ensemble Contrechamps, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Lausanne Vocal Ensemble, Capella Mediterranea, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Valery Gergiev, Heinz Holliger, Michel Corboz, Lawrence Foster, Antonio Pappano, etc.). In 2005, he founded the Orchestre Buissonnier, a young musicians' ensemble, which he regularly conducts.
Learn more about Vincent Thévenaz.
