Michel
Bellavance
Professor of Flute - Woodwind Chamber Music
Miyazawa artist, the Canadian-Swiss flutist Michel Bellavance has been a soloist in concertos by Nielsen, Ibert, Reinecke, Bernstein, Kabalevski, Liebermann, Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi with orchestras in Europe and Latin America, including the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru, the Mendoza Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bahia State Symphony Orchestra, and the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra.
Michel Bellavance has performed at festivals in Switzerland, the United States, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador. He has been featured on radio broadcasts by CBC, Radio Suisse Romande, and National Public Radio, and has given recitals in cities such as Prague, Barcelona, Geneva, Madrid, Basel, London, Zurich, Paris, Montreal, Ottawa, Washington DC, New York (Carnegie Hall), Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Lima, São Paulo, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, and Bogotá.
His recordings for Meridian Records, Atma Classique, Brioso Recordings, and SNE have been praised by international critics and reflect his keen interest in new repertoire and lesser-known works.
Alongside his performing career, Michel Bellavance is a flute professor at the HEM – Geneva, and he regularly gives masterclasses in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, notably at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Beijing and Shanghai Conservatories, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, as well as at the International Flute Festivals of San Jose and Lima.
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Ricardo
Carvalhoso
Professeur de Tuba et Euphonium ou Saxhorn
One of the most prominent tuba players of his generation, Ricardo Carvalhoso has built his career on a singing and energetic approach to brass playing, leading him to win jobs in several orchestras across Europe.
Since 2017 he is Principal Tuba of the Munich Philharmonie Orchestra. Prior to this engagement, Carvalhoso was Tuba-Solo of the Nice Philharmonie Orchestra and later he assumed the same position with the Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House Philharmonia Zurich.
His orchestral activity has led him to perform in some of the most important concert halls around the globe, including New York, Tokyo, Paris, London, Berlin and Vienna.
ln 2014 he played Vaughan Williams' Tuba Concerto with the Nice Philharmonie Orchestra under the direction of Walter Hilgers.
Between 2009 and 2011 he was awarded with a series of international prizes including the Young Musicians Award in Portugal, the "Aosta Valley" Brass Competition in ltaly, the Tuba Competition "Ville d'Avray" in France and the Music Prize of the Kiefer Hablitze\ Foundation in Switzerland. His musical education started in Portugal at the age of 14 years old and his first teachers included Juan Carlos Diaz, Chris Lee, Eduardo Nogeroles and Sergio Carolino. After graduating from Porto University of Music and Performing Arts, he pursued his Master Degree in Switzerland with Anne Je lie Visser.
Ricardo Carvalhoso plays Yamaha instruments and is a sought-after pedagogue and soloist.
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Lucien
Kandel
Professor of Historical Singing - Renaissance Vocal Ensemble
Lucien Kandel, singer and artistic director of the Ensemble Musica Nova, has specialized in early music repertoires after studying classical singing at the CNSMD of Lyon. He honed his skills with Marie-Claude Vallin, Gérard Geay, Dominique Vellard, and others, obtaining his advanced diploma in 1996. He quickly joined prestigious ensembles such as the Huelgas Ensemble, Doulce Mémoire, A Sei Voci, and Les Solistes de Lyon Bernard Têtu.
He has also collaborated with Le Concert Spirituel under Hervé Niquet, Ensemble Jacques Moderne (Joël Suhubiette), and Elyma with Gabriel Garrido. Kandel has participated in numerous contemporary creations, notably with Daniel D'Adamo within Ensemble Poïésis, and has commissioned works from various composers such as Daniele Ghisi, Henry Fourès, and Saed Haddad.
Since 2003, he has led Ensemble Musica Nova, assembling a team of singers to revisit and refine masterworks of the repertoire, including the famous Mass of Machaut. Their recordings have won numerous awards and high praise, including the Diapason d'Or of the Year 2003 and the Editor's Choice from the British magazine Gramophone in 2007.
Since 2011, he has taught historical singing practice at the Haute école de musique de Genève and the DMA. He regularly gives masterclasses in various academies (Royaumont) and conservatories, covering a range from medieval to baroque singing.
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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.
Nicolas
Bolens
Professor of Counterpoint, 20th-Century Writing, and Practical Writing
En associant traditions et explorations nouvelles des matières sonores, les œuvres de Nicolas Bolens investissent l’espace en valorisant les éléments et les sujets qui se présentent à lui.
Combining traditions and new explorations of sound materials, the works of Nicolas Bolens invest in space by enhancing the elements and subjects that present themselves to him.
His music is regularly connected to other elements: texts, films, places, evocations... In each context, he seeks an authentic dramaturgy that promotes unprecedented settings.
For example, with the Batida ensemble, he imagined "Welcome to the Castle" (2017), three musical acts for musicians moving through the Allymes Castle near Amberieu-en-Bugey.
For the Gémeau Quartet, he wrote "La Ville Oblique" (2013), a string quartet conceived as a musical extension of the short film "Un Chien Andalou" by Dalí and Buñuel.
Written words, most often poetic, permeate his entire production. He has composed on poems by Celan, Sachs, Mallarmé, Char, Blok, Khayyam, Michaux, Éluard, Basho, Neruda, Rilke, Adonis, Shakespeare... These authors, from various times and origins, have led him to integrate many languages into his works, considering their sonic as well as semantic potentials.
Orchestration also holds an important place in his work, rethinking the instrumentation of certain past works. In 2018, he re-orchestrated "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" and the 4th Symphony by Gustav Mahler for the Lemanic Modern Ensemble under the direction of conductor Pierre Bleuse.
Commissioned by the association Ouverture Opera, his recent rewriting of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" follows the same approach.
Nicolas Bolens has notably collaborated with the Batida ensemble, 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 Séquence...
Born in Geneva, he first studied piano at the Conservatoire de musique de Genève, then completed his training in the composition class of Jean Balissat. He further honed his skills with Rudolph Kelterborn, Klaus Huber, Edison Denisov, and Eric Gaudibert. He is the recipient of numerous composition prizes, including those from the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (1993) and the Banque Cantonale Neuchâteloise (2002), as well as a scholarship from the Leenaards Foundation (1998).
An engaged pedagogue and artist, he teaches counterpoint, 20th-century writing, and composition at the Haute école de musique de Genève, where he has been the head of the Composition and Theory Department from 2015 to 2024. He is also 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.
Learn more about Nicolas Bolens
Christophe
Delannoy
Professor of Percussion - Sight-Reading (Percussion) - Orchestral Excerpts in Section or Tutti (Percussion)
Christophe Delannoy studied in Paris at the Conservatoire de Bourg-la-Reine, where he obtained a Gold Medal and a First Prize in percussion. He then attended the Conservatoire de Créteil, where he was awarded the First Prize in percussion. Finally, at the Conservatoire de Genève, he trained in acoustic and musical management.
He began his career as a percussionist with numerous ensembles, including the Orchestre Philharmonique des Pays de Loire, the Orchestre de Picardie, the Orchestre de Chambre d'Ile de France, and the Orchestre Erwartung d'Ile-de-France. In 1996, he joined the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as the first percussionist and snare drum soloist. He has participated in numerous musical projects with the International Percussion Center, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, among others.
Christophe Delannoy teaches percussion at the Haute école de musique de Genève.
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Laurent
Gignoux
Responsable du département des instruments de l'orchestre, coordinateur des Traits d'orchestre et des Traits d'orchestre en section ou en pupitre et préparation aux concours
Laurent Gignoux, de nationalités suisse et française, hautboïste, pédagogue, chef d’orchestre, responsable de projets artistique et pédagogique a été formé dans deux grandes institutions européennes : le Conservatoire national supérieur musique et danse de Paris (CNSMDP) puis à la Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) - en hautbois, musique de chambre, orchestre, pédagogie et direction d’établissement artistique. Lauréat de concours internationaux et nationaux, soutenu par différentes fondations, il partage sa carrière internationale entre des concerts en soliste, en musique de chambre avec orchestre, plus récemment comme chef d’orchestre. Comme pédagogue, il a été professeur de hautbois et de musique de chambre dans différents conservatoires en France ainsi que l’assistant de Thomas Indermühle à la Musikhochschule de Karsruhe.
Il a côtoyé dans sa carrière, de grands chefs et solistes français et européens – Pierre Boulez, Michel Plasson, Yehudi Menuhin, Emmanuel Krivine, Pinchas Steinberg, Eri Klas, Roberto Alagna, Brigitte Engerer, Shlomo Mintz, José Vandam, Félicien Brut, Ophélie Gaillard - dans de grandes salles et des festivals internationaux.
De 2006 à 2023, à la direction générale et direction musique du Pôle d’Enseignement Supérieur de la Musique et de la Danse de Bordeaux Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Laurent Gignoux s’est consacré à développer cet établissement et a notamment conduit le projet de construction du futur bâtiment.
En 2024, Laurent Gignoux a fondé l’Essentia Orchestra, une formation de chambre de 10 à 15 alumni, musicien-ne-s professionnel-le-s diplômé-e-s d’écoles supérieures, pour partager le grand répertoire symphonique à tous les publics et ouvrir la “musique classique“ à d’autres lieux et territoires.
Miguel
Da Silva
Professor of Viola
Miguel da Silva trained at the Conservatoire National de Région de Reims before joining the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he studied with Serge Collot and Maurice Crut. He received a first prize in chamber music and a first prize in viola, both unanimously and with a special jury vote. In 1985, he won the Premier Grand Prix at the International Chamber Music Competition in Paris and joined the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Paris.
In 1987, he left the Opera to form the Ysaÿe Quartet with three friends. After working with the Lasalle, Amadeus, Italiano, and Berg quartets, the ensemble won numerous first prizes, including the Evian Competition in 1988, and began a successful international career. After debuting with Harmonia Mundi, the quartet signed an exclusive contract with Decca, for whom they recorded, among others, the complete Mendelssohn quartets, two discs dedicated to Fauré, and collections featuring Debussy and Ravel. Contemporary creation is essential for the ensemble, which has premiered numerous works by Pascal Dusapin, André Boucourechliev, and Noam Sheriff.
Miguel da Silva has also performed with partners such as Michel Portal, Pierre Amoyal, Truls Mork, Gary Hoffman, Pascal Rogé, Jean-Claude Pennetier, and Emmanuel Pahud. As a soloist, he has been invited by the Polish Chamber Orchestra, the Montpellier Orchestra, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Budapest, the Sinfonia Varsovia, and the orchestra Les Siècles.
In 1993, he and the Ysaÿe Quartet founded a string quartet class at the CRR de Paris, a first in France. Their students (including the Ebène, Modigliani, Psophos, Voce, Aviv, and Incanto quartets) have won numerous international string quartet competitions. He is also the artistic director of the summer academy Musique à Flaine, artistic advisor of the Académie Musicale de Villecroze, and founder of Ysaÿe Records, a record label. A Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, Miguel da Silva plays a Cremonese viola from 1790 and is a professor of viola at the Haute école de musique.
Learn more about Miguel da Silva.
Ricardo
Castro
Head of the Keyboard Instruments Department - Professor of Piano
Born in Vitória da Conquista, a small town in northeastern Brazil, Ricardo Castro began playing the piano at the age of three. At five, he entered the School of Music and Arts at the University of Bahia, and three years later, he made his debut giving recitals. At the age of ten, Ricardo Castro performed Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major as a soloist. Several orchestral concerts and national prizes followed immediately.
In 1984, he moved to Europe to study piano and conducting at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève with Maria Tipo and Arpad Gerecz, respectively. He also studied with Dominique Merlet in Paris. Castro won First Prize at the Rahn Competition in 1985 and the Josef Pembaur Competition in 1986. He graduated from the Conservatoire de Genève in 1987, receiving the First Prize of Virtuosity with distinction and congratulations from the jury. That same year, he became co-winner of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich and in 1988, he won Third Prize at the Géza Anda Competition. In 1993, he received First Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition, becoming the only South American winner to date.
In 2003, he formed a piano duo with Maria João Pires. They performed a series of recitals in major European venues and released a CD of Schubert's works on Deutsche Grammophon. Ricardo Castro has recorded several other CDs with BMG/Arte Nova, both in recital and with orchestra.
As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Zurich Tonhalle, BBC Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Tokyo Philharmonic, and Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg. He has played and conducted in prestigious concert halls, including the Barbican Centre and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Philharmonie de Paris, and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His partners have included Sir Simon Rattle, Midori, Leif Segerstam, Martha Argerich, Antonio Meneses, Yakov Kreizberg, Kazimierz Kord, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Maria João Pires, and Shlomo Mintz.
In 2007, Ricardo Castro, invited by the government of the State of Bahia, founded NEOJIBA (Centers of Youth and Children's Orchestras of the State of Bahia), a pioneering program in Brazil. He serves as the general director of this program, which in 2020, involved around 6,000 young people and children throughout the State of Bahia. With the program's main orchestra, the NEOJIBA Orchestra, Ricardo Castro has conducted seven international tours, performing in some of the world's most important concert halls.
In 2013, Ricardo Castro became the first Brazilian to be named an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, joining the ranks of the greatest names in Western music. Highly committed to social causes, Ricardo Castro has dedicated a significant portion of his time to educational activities over the years. He is the founding director of the NEOJIBA Orchestra and a professor of advanced piano classes at the Haute école de musique de Genève and the Haute école de musique de Lausanne, as well as at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy.
Carine
Tripet Lievre
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.
