François
Desforges
Professeur of Percussion
François Desforges began studying percussion with Daniel Ardaillon in Montluçon and continued his education with Didier Benetti and Frédéric Macarez in Paris. Concurrently, he studied Latin percussion with Miguel Fiannaca.
In 1992, François Desforges was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the class of Jacques Delecluse and Jean Geoffroy. He graduated in 1995 with a unanimous First Prize. That same year, he joined the Orchestre National de France and obtained the Certificate of Aptitude for teaching percussion.
In 1998, he also received a First Prize in chamber music at the CNSM de Paris in the class of Jacques Ivaldi and Michel Cals.
Within the Orchestre National de France, he holds the position of Solo Timpanist. With this renowned ensemble, he has participated in numerous projects and international tours under the baton of prestigious conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Osawa, Kurt Masur, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, and Cristian Macelaru, the current music director.
Beyond his orchestral activities, François Desforges is passionate about pedagogy. After many years of teaching at the conservatory of the 5th arrondissement of Paris and at the CRD of Créteil, he joined the prestigious Haute école de musique de Genève in 2016 to teach timpani. This esteemed institution allows him to share his passion with students from around the world. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses on orchestral timpani.
As a chamber musician, François Desforges is a member of the ensemble Ad ONF, comprised of percussionists from the Orchestre National de France. This variable-geometry ensemble was created in 2004 around the project "Ballet Mécanique" by Georges Antheil, initiated by René Bosc, then director of musical creation at Radio-France. Since its creation, Ad ONF has been a regular guest at numerous festivals such as the Présences Festival at Radio-France, La Roque d’Anthéron, Les Folles Journées de Nantes, and the Bel Air Festival in Chambéry. Many artists have collaborated with Ad ONF, including Marielle and Katia Labèque, Bertrand Chamayou, Jean Frédéric Neuburger, Magali Mosnier, Markus Lindberg, Thierry Escaich, and Thomas Adès.
François Desforges also performs with various other partners such as the "inclassifiable" group Quai n°5, the Accentus Chamber Choir directed by Laurence Equilbey, the Sequenza 9.3 vocal ensemble directed by Catherine Simonpietri, the "family" Artie’s, and more recently with the Consuelo Orchestra under the direction of Victor-Julien Laferrière.
Learn more about François Desforges.
Daniel
Zea Gomez
Atelier d'expérimentation créative / Électroacoustique Jaques-Dalcroze
Designer, sound artist and composer Daniel Zea lives and works in Geneva. His artistic universe revolves around instrumental and electroacoustic music, hybrid performances combining video, sound, gesture capture systems and physical computing, as well as programming.
He regularly collaborates on interdisciplinary projects (visual arts, choreography, performance) and teaches at the Geneva University of Art and Design. He is involved in the artistic direction of the Vortex ensemble, working both as a composer and performer of electroacoustic music.
Very active in the field of education, he has been a reference artist for multidisciplinary artistic residencies at the Royaumont Foundation and, more recently, at GRAME, a centre for musical creation in Lyon.
His piece The Fuck Facebook Face Orchestra won the 2016 Giga Hertz Preis from the ZKM (Karlsruhe, Germany), and in 2017, Pocket Enemy was selected for the International Rostrum of Composers. In 2023, he will receive the Liechti Foundation's Sound Arts Award.
In his work, he reflects critically on our society's relationship with digital technology, sometimes with a certain political commitment that is not without humour. However, his musical interests are not limited to contemporary experimental creation. He is also passionate about folklore. On the Colombian side, he explores the repertoire of the Caribbean region (cumbia, fandango, porro) with Palenque la Papayera. A lover of traditional music from south-eastern Mexico, he is a member of the groups Cocoxoca and Gema y sus Valedores.
Daniel Zea was a guest at the Les Amplitudes Festival in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2024.
Daniel Zea's website
Marius
Brenciu
Professeur de chant
Marius Brenciu obtained his bachelor's degree (1997) and a master's degree in vocal art (1998) from the University of Music in Bucharest. He taught singing at the same institution between 1997 and 2000.
He participated in numerous competitions and won many prizes, including the George Enescu First Prize in 1999, Queen Elisabeth Competition (2nd Prize and Prize for Best Opera Performance) in 2000, 1st Prize and 4 special prizes at the YCA Competition in New York and the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition (the Lied Prize and the Singer of the World Prize) in 2001.
He has worked under the direction of prestigious conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta, to name but a few, and has performed with major international ensembles. He has worked with directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Peter Stein, Nicolas Joel, Giancarlo del Monaco, Karl and Ursel Hermann, among others.
Marius Brenciu has been a member of the Artistic Committee of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition - singing section (since 2004) and a member of the Jury (2011, 2014 and 2018 editions). He is regularly invited to give masterclasses in Belgium, France and the United States.
Katharina
Rosenberger
Professor of composition
The works of composer Katharina Rosenberger take listeners to unknown places. Born in Zurich in 1971, the artist takes an interdisciplinary approach and uses unusual combinations. Her works draw on artistic fields and media such as video, visual arts and theatre. Her sound art and sound sculptures challenge our listening habits and draw attention to the way we perceive music and works of art.
Katharina Rosenberger studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, the Royal Academy of Music in London and Columbia University in New York. Since 2018, she has been a professor at the University of California, San Diego, where she previously taught composition and sound art. In 2021, she was appointed professor of composition in Lübeck. In 2019, Katharina Rosenberger received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship.
Katharina Rosenberger's works have received numerous awards; her project ‘VIVA VOCE’ was supported by the Federal Office of Culture and her album ‘TEXTUREN’, performed by the New York ensemble Wet Ink, received the prestigious Copland Recording Grant and the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik prize. Katharina Rosenberger's works can be discovered at international festivals. Attending a live performance is an experience that leaves a lasting impression on the senses.
Patrik Vincent
Dasen
Professor of Ethnomusicology, Master’s Research Seminar, World Music Workshop
Patrik Dasen graduated in ethnomusicology from the Université Paris X Nanterre (Maîtrise, 1999) and the Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis (Master 2, 2009), where he also completed a doctoral thesis in March 2020 entitled "Becoming and Being a Maker of Irish Bagpipes Uilleann Pipes: Between Deterritorialization and Heritage Preservation," under the supervision of Prof. Luc Charles-Dominique. His research focuses on the processes of transmission and heritage preservation of musical traditions.
He worked for ten years at the Ateliers d'ethnomusicologie de Genève as the head of educational activities and public relations. He also led, with a small team, the cataloging and digitization campaign of the Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire (AIMP, 2005-2011) by Constantin Brailoiu, which are now fully accessible at the Musée d'ethnographie de Genève thanks to this preservation effort. He has been teaching ethnomusicology and the sociology of contemporary music at the Haute école de musique de Genève since 2008.
Learn more about Patrik Vincent Dasen
Carine
Tripet Lièvre
Responsible of pedagogical programs - Professor of Education Sciences
Holder of a PhD in Social and Political Sciences, specializing in Education Sciences, Carine Tripet is also a musician. Coming from a jazz background but specialized in world vocal music, she is active in Valais where her musical projects revolve around immigration issues and Valaisan heritage. She received the Musique Pro Valais cultural scholarship for the period 2014-2017 with her project ViaVallesia.
Formerly a professor at the Haute Ecole Pédagogique du Valais, where she led several programs, she also taught Applied Education Sciences in Music Education for six years at HEMU. The content of her courses is decidedly interdisciplinary, drawing from various relevant disciplines (including, but not limited to: didactics, sociology, developmental psychology, neuroscience, ethics, law), to establish a solid network of concepts and notions that enable young teachers to self-analyze their practice. Her research focuses on the construction of the professional identity of music teachers in connection with cultural democracy.
Since 2022, she has been coordinating the pedagogy program at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève.
Maria Christina
Cleary
Professor of Historical Harps - Basso Continuo on the Instrument (for Harpists)
Originally from Ireland and its harp musical traditions, Maria Christina Cleary is internationally recognized as a virtuoso with an exceptionally sensitive and beautiful touch. She is one of the few specialists in medieval harp, promoting innovative techniques, particularly pedal techniques used exclusively on single-action harps. These techniques have enabled her to develop a new approach to interpreting medieval and Renaissance works. She studied in Dublin, London, The Hague, and Brussels with Susanna Mildonian, as well as at Leiden University in the Netherlands. She has won numerous awards, including the Utrecht Early Music Competition, the Nippon International Harp Competition, and the Dutch National Harp Competition.
Maria Christina Cleary regularly records CDs such as "So mach’ die Augen zu," the first CD of Louis Spohr with original instruments and musical techniques of the time. She produced another CD, "Le Grazie del Violino," with her duo Arparla, featuring works by 17th-century Italian composers such as Frescobaldi, Merula, Uccellini, and Rossi, where she exclusively uses the harp as an accompaniment or solo instrument.
She teaches medieval harp, improvisation, and chamber music with both ancient and modern harps. After teaching at the Guildhall School of Music in London, the conservatories in Singapore, Brisbane, Venice, Padova, the Krakow Academy of Music, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and the Haute école de musique de Genève, she joined the renowned Urbino Summer Music team in 2016. Maria Christina Cleary regularly gives masterclasses, notably at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
Learn more about Maria Christina Cleary.
Andreas
Wolf
Professor of Voice
A young baritone with a confident voice and clear diction, Andreas Wolf maintains a steady career, primarily in Europe. His voice flourishes in the 18th-century repertoire but also makes some beautiful forays into the Romantic and contemporary periods.
He began his musical journey in 1994 at the music school in Wernigerode, where he also joined the Rundfunk-Jugendchor (Radio Youth Choir). In 2002, he received a scholarship to study at the University of Music in Detmold under Heiner Eckels. He attended masterclasses with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Andras Schiff, Christoph Prégardien, and Thomas Quasthoff, eager to understand the respective methods these great singers used to achieve such a high degree of excellence. In 2006, Andreas Wolf joined the European Academy of Aix-en-Provence, which allowed him to grow artistically and gain wider recognition. Since his debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2007 in Monteverdi's Orfeo (conducted by René Jacobs), Andreas Wolf has been regularly invited by operas and major concert halls, working with renowned conductors such as William Christie, Raphaël Pichon, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Bertrand de Billy, and Sylvain Cambreling.
Although Andreas Wolf excels in the baroque repertoire, he also performs Romantic works by Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Hugo Wolf; he also sang in Schoenberg's Moses and Aaron at the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Sylvain Cambreling. In 2017, he participated in the creation of the Requiem by Dutch composer Willem Jeths at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Andreas Wolf travels across Europe on tours, such as a recent one with Il Pomo d'Oro, accompanied by Franco Fagioli.
His growing discography includes Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conducted by Marcus Creed, which was a choice of France Musique.
Learn more about Andreas Wolf
Luis
Naon
Professor of Electroacoustic Composition - Mixed Composition
Born in La Plata, Argentina, in 1961, Luis Naon pursued his musical studies at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires, and later at the CNSM de Paris under the guidance of Guy Reibel, Laurent Cuniot, and Daniel Teruggi. He also studied with Sergio Ortega and Horacio Vaggione. Since 1991, he has been a professor of Composition and New Technologies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Additionally, he taught composition at ESMUC (Barcelona) from 2003 to 2008 and has been a professor of electroacoustics at the HEM de Genève since 2006.
From what could be considered his first work, "Final del Juego" for septet and magnetic tape (premiered at Studio 105 of Radio France in 1983), Naon has sought to implement this dual relationship (between America and Europe, between instruments and electronics).
He has been awarded the UNESCO International Composers Tribune in 1990 and 1996 (for "Tango del desamparo" and "Speculorum Memoria"), the Fondo Nacional de las Artes (for "Reflets"), the TRINAC Prize from the International Music Council (for "Cinq personnages en quête de hauteur"), the Olympia Composition Prize (for "Ombre de l'ombre"), and the Municipal Prize of the City of Buenos Aires in 1991 and 1995 (for "Speculorum Memoria"). He was nominated for the "3rd Victoires de la Musique Classique" (for Sextuor ". "), "Prix Georges Enesco" from SACEM, and "Luis de Narváez" Prize from Caja de Granada for his String Quartet No. 2.
Naon collaborates with various ensembles and institutions such as the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Musée d’Art Contemporain du Mexique, Orchestre de la Seine-Saint-Denis, Ensemble TM+, Lémanic Modern Ensemble, Interface, Musique Oblique, Musée d’Histoire de Montreuil, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, INA-GRM, IRCAM, Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble Contrechamps, Ensemble Diagonal, Ukho ensemble de Kiev, and in festivals like Musica Strasbourg, MANCA, Festival d'Aix en Provence, Festival Archipel, and Vivier de Montréal.
In 1989, Naon composed the music for the parade on the Champs-Elysées and Place de la Concorde commemorating the Bicentennial of the French Revolution. This parade was televised worldwide.
The cycle of 25 works "Urbana," initiated in 1991 and completed in 2013, crystallizes under this generic title through "Urbana" (1997). It includes 25 works ranging from acousmatic pieces to symphonic orchestra.
He composed the music for the show "Les Princesses" for the opening of the Théâtre-Auditorium de Poitiers in partnership with choreographer Odile Azagury. Nearly 3 hours of music ranging from solo electroacoustic (for choreographers Anna Ventura, Karine Saporta, or Dominique Boivin) to pieces for 15 instruments and electronics (for choreographers Carolyn Carlson, Héla Fatoumi, Blanca Li, etc.). This entire production is captured on a double CD under the Empreinte Digitale label.
Recent works include "Quebrada/Horizonte" for orchestra, "Pájaro al borde de la noche" for cello, electronics, and ensemble premiered at the recent Présences festivals of Radio France, "Ébano y Metal" for the Lemanic Modern Ensemble (Switzerland/France).
Other notable recent works include "Rastros" for the ensembles Stick & Bow and Paramirabo of Montreal (featured in a monographic concert and video recording) and his "String Quartet III" (premiered at the Evora Festival in 2021, then at Archipel 2022 and projection space of IRCAM in 2023).
His latest piece, "Fueye," concertino for bandoneon and ensemble, was premiered by Juanjo Mosalini and the TM+ ensemble at the Maison de la Musique de Nanterre in October 2022, followed by performances at La Seine Musicale and Gennevilliers in May 2023.
Naon's works are published by Henry Lemoine, Gérard Billaudot, and Babelscores.
Learn more about Luis Naon.
Denis
Severin
Professor of Cello
Denis Severin studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with D. Miller, at the Haute école de musique de Genève with Daniel Grosgurin, and at the Academy of Music in Basel with Thomas Demenga. He earned teaching and soloist diplomas with distinction. He furthered his studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in baroque cello, chamber music, and string quartet under Christophe Coin. He also attended masterclasses with J. Starker, N. Gutman, T. Mørk, A. Bylsma, A. Meneses, G. Hoffman, W. Böttcher, and B. Mate.
An award winner at international competitions, D. Severin has regularly performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the National Orchestra of Ukraine, the European Youth Orchestra, Les Solistes de Kiev, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Pskov (Russia), and the Kharkiv Philharmonic (Ukraine).
As a chamber musician, he plays with numerous ensembles and is frequently invited to festivals in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Serbia, Singapore, Poland, Turkey, and England. His extensive discography includes a Rachmaninov program for cello and piano with Sony and the Brandenburg Concertos with the Swiss Baroque Soloists for Naxos, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Since 2006, he has taught cello and chamber music at the International Summer Music Academy at the Château de Beuggen in Germany. He is a regular guest professor for cello and early music at the National Music Academy of Kyiv and the University of the Arts in Kharkiv (Ukraine). He is a cello professor at the Haute école des arts in Bern and leads a cello class at the Haute école de musique de Genève, Neuchâtel site.
Denis Severin plays a Jean-Nicolas Lambert cello from 1750 and a Vincenzo Panormo cello from 1800.
Learn more about Denis Severin
