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
Elizabeth
Dobbin
Head of the Early Music Department
Elizabeth Dobbin is a passionate opera singer, artistic researcher, and dedicated teacher. She began her musical studies in childhood with lessons in theory, piano, and singing. After obtaining degrees with high honors in literature and law, she worked for many years as a lawyer in the finance and corporate law sectors in London and Sydney before turning to her true passion, early music.
She earned her Master's degree from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Early Music Department and has regularly performed as a soloist and chorister in oratorio and opera, as well as in recitals across Europe with prominent names in Baroque music. With the ensemble Le Jardin Secret, she won the first prize and jury prize at the Early Music Network International Young Artists' Competition in York, England. She has participated in numerous radio broadcasts and recorded for labels such as Alpha, CORO, Aliud Records, Pentatone, Fuga Libera, and ORF.
A passionate researcher, she obtained her PhD from Leiden University and the Orpheus Institute with a thesis on vocal practice in late 17th-century France, particularly in Parisian salons.
With over twenty years of teaching experience, she is regularly invited to give lectures and masterclasses throughout Europe.
Learn more about Elizabeth Dobbin.
Nurit
Stark
Professor of Violin
Born in Israel, violinist and violist Nurit Stark received her musical education in Tel Aviv, Berlin and Cologne with Ilan Gronich, Haim Taub and the Alban Berg Quartet. Following her first appearance as a soloist at the age of 16 in Paganini's First Violin Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, she continued to perfect her skills, performing all over the world.
As a chamber musician, she collaborates with pianist Cédric Pescia and soprano Caroline Melzer, with whom she performs at the Lockenhaus Kammermusikfest, Schleswig Holstein, Rheingau, Wien Modern and Donaueschinger Musiktage festivals.
Her passion for contemporary music has led her to give world premieres and collaborate with composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, György Kurtág, Viktor Suslin, Peter Eötvös, Carola Bauckholt, Jennifer Walsh, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Isabel Mundry and Georg Nussbaumer.
She is also involved in avant-garde stage projects combining music and theater, and with visual artists Isabel Robson & Susanne Vincenz created Roundhouse Reverb, a video installation based on the music of György Kurtág.
Nurit Stark is a prizewinner in the George Enescu, Leopold Mozart and Ibolyka Gyarf international competitions.
Her first solo recording will be released in spring 2022 and includes solo works for violin/viola by Béla Bártok, György Ligeti, Sándor Veress and the world premiere ofAdventures of the dominant seventh chord dedicated to Nurit Stark by Peter Eötvös.
In 2019, she is appointed Professor of Violin at Stuttgart State University for Music and Performing Arts. Nurit Stark plays a P. Guarneri di Mantova violin, 1710.
Learn more about Nurit Stark
Sophie
Gent
Professeure de violon baroque
La violoniste australienne Sophie Gent a étudié au Conservatoire royal de La Haye avec Ryo Terakado. Vivant actuellement en France, Sophie se produit régulièrement, comme premier violon, avec les ensembles les plus renommés du moment, comme le Collegium Vocale de Gand (Philippe Herreweghe), le Freiburger Barockorchester, Ricercar Consort (Philippe Pierlot), Pygmalion (Raphaël Pichon), Arcangelo (Jonathan Cohen), entre autres. Elle joue en récital et en musique de chambre, souvent avec Bertrand Cuiller, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Jean Rondeau, Maude Gratton et Pierre Hantaï.
Professeure de violon baroque au Conservatoire d’Amsterdam de 2011 à 2014, elle a également donné des masterclasses au Conservatoire d’Anvers, à l’Atelier de musique ancienne de Jérusalem, à l’Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes. Depuis 2012, elle enseigne à l’Académie de musique ancienne à Vannes et, depuis 2022, au Stage de musique ancienne à Cluny (Ensemble Masque). Elle est actuellement professeure de violon baroque à la Haute école de musique de Genève.
Sophie joue un violon de Jacob Stainer de 1676.
Sarah
Branchi-Cascone
Professor of piano Jaques-Dalcroze
Born in Aix-en-Provence, Sarah Branchi Cascone began her musical studies there, later completing them at the CRR of Montpellier. After obtaining Diplomas in Musical Studies in piano and chamber music, she joined the Cefedem-Sud (now IESM) at a very young age, where she earned a piano teaching diploma.
Her musical journey then led her to the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM) to continue her studies in the class of Dominique Weber. There, she obtained a teaching diploma and later a concert diploma.
Passionate about pedagogy and teaching from a young age, Sarah Branchi Cascone has been teaching piano since 2003 at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze and within the Master’s in Pedagogy program, Jaques-Dalcroze orientation, at HEM.
She has performed as a soloist and in various chamber music formations in Switzerland, France, and Argentina. In 2008, she founded the Tashko-Branchi duo with pianist Olta Tashko. The two pianists regularly perform recitals in France and Switzerland. In 2017, they participated in the complete concertos of J.S. Bach for 2, 3, and 4 pianos with the Terpsycordes Quartet. In 2019, they premiered the show "Vagabond et Visionnaire" by S. Arnauld, based on poems by F. Nietzsche.
Máté
Szucs
Professor of Viola
Máté Szücs, a Hungarian-born violist, has had an award-winning career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral instrumentalist.
Máté served as principal violist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 2011 to 2018, where he also performed as a soloist in Bartók's Viola Concerto in September 2017.
At the age of seventeen, Máté switched from violin to viola and graduated with highest honors from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Royal Conservatory of Flanders in Antwerp. He further pursued studies at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, Belgium, graduating with highest distinction.
As a chamber musician, Máté has been a member of various ensembles including the Mendelssohn Ensemble, Con Spirito Piano Quartet, Trio Dor, Enigma Ensemble, and Ensemble "Fragments". He has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Janine Jansen, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Christian Tetzlaff, Vadim Repin, Ilja Gringolts, Vladimir Mendelssohn, László Fenyő, Kristof Baráti, István Várdai, Camille Thomas, Kirill Troussov, and Julien Quentin.
In addition to solo performances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, he has appeared with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, Bamberger Symphoniker, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, where he also served as principal violist.
Since 2006, Máté has been a regular faculty member at the Thy Chamber Music Festival in Denmark and taught at the Britten-Pears Festival in Aldeburgh, England from 2012 to 2014. He taught for two years at the University of Music in Saarbrücken, from 2014 to 2018 at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, from 2015 to 2018 at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin, and in 2015-2016 at the Academy of Music in Budapest.
Máté conducts masterclasses worldwide, including in New York, Los Angeles, Michigan, London, Berlin, Brussels, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Since 2018, he has been a professor of viola at the Haute école de musique de Genève.
Learn more about Máté Szücs
Andrea
Bandini
Professor of Trombone
Andrea Bandini began his music studies in 1973 at the Music School of Siena in Italy and obtained his trombone diploma in 1980 at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Music in Florence. In 1978 he joined the Italian Youth Orchestra under the direction of Franco Ferrara.
In 1981, he decided to perfect his skills at the Geneva Conservatory of Music in the class of Roland Schnorhk, where he obtained the 1st prize for virtuosity with distinction in 1985. The same year, he won the 1st prize at the Riddes Competition, the 3rd prize at the Markneuenkirchen Competition and the following year the bronze medal at the Bordeaux International Festival of Young Soloists.
Since 1986, Andrea Bandini has been a member of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and has been appointed solo trombone until 2011. From 1984 to 2008 he was a member of the contemporary music ensemble, Contrechamps, an ensemble with which he was fortunate enough to rub shoulders with the greatest contemporary music composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Invited as a jury member in the most important international trombone competitions, Andrea Bandini has been teaching at the Haute école de musique de Genève since 1999. Andrea Bandini is also regularly invited to participate in masterclasses and brass festivals throughout the world. He is also a consultant for the " Free-flow Valve " system for trombone, invented by Rene Hagmann, owner of the " Servette-Musique " shop in Geneva.
Andrea Bandini bought his first slide trombone and his first classical music record in Florence in 1976. It was a recording of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande by Ernest Ansermet. After having listened to it many times, Andrea Bandini announced to his father that he would one day perform with this orchestra.... 10 years later, he joins the OSR.
Learn more about Andrea Bandini
Ophélie
Gaillard
Cello Professor
An insatiable curiosity, a taste for risk, an immoderate appetite for the whole of the concerted cello repertoire, complete disregard of limits and petty quarrels: those are no doubt the features that have always set this brilliant Franco-Swiss musician apart. Her passion? Working from the sources, inquiring into the text, using her virtuosity to bring out the musical discourse and make the music loved by all.
Named “Revelation: Solo Instrumentalist of the Year” at the French Classical Music Awards (Victoires) in 2003, she has since appeared in recital at many reknowed venues: Concertgebouw Bruges and Amsterdam; Bozar and Flagey, Brussels; the theatres of Bordeaux, Avignon, Poissy, Aix-en-Provence; the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris; Oji Hall, Tokyo; London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as the most prestigous Orchestras such as l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, le Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, le Czech National Symphony Orchestra ou le New Japan Philharmonic
Fond of encounters, she regularly shares the stage with Lambert Wilson, hip-hop dancer Ibrahim Sissoko, choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, dancer Hugo Marchand (Etoile of the Opéra National de Paris), or Brazilian star singer of bossa nova Toquinho (live album Canto de sereia recorded for Aparté at the MiTo festival in 2017).
In 2005, she found Pulcinella, a collective of virtuosos with a passion for performance practice on period instruments. The recording devoted to Vivaldi, Boccherini and Bach reaped excellent ratings and several awards, among them a DIAPAON D’OR of the year.
A sought-after teacher, she regularly gives masterclasses in Europe, Asia and Central America. She is regularly invited as a member of the Jury at the ARD and Geneva Competitions and in 2014 she was appointed Professor at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva.
Ophélie Gaillard plays a cello by Francesco Goffriller (1737), generously on loan from the CIC, and also an anonymous Flemish violoncello piccolo.
Learn more about Ophélie Gaillard
Nina
Uhari
Head of Vocal Department - Professor of Piano Accompaniment - Chamber Music with Piano
Born in Finland, Nina Uhari pursued professional piano studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under the guidance of Matti Raekallio and Eero Heinonen. She furthered her training in Baltimore, USA, with Julian Martin, and later in Paris with Bernard Ringeissen. Additionally, she studied accompaniment at the Conservatoire National de Région in Rueil-Malmaison.
Following her studies, Nina Uhari worked as a conductor at CNIPAL (Centre National d'Insertion pour des Artistes Lyriques) in Marseille from 2003 to 2012, where she became the principal conductor in 2008. Concurrently, she was a member of the opera role class at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris.
In September 2012, Nina Uhari joined the HEM (Haute Ecole de Musique) in Geneva as a vocal coach for the singing classes at the Neuchâtel and Geneva sites. She has performed in recitals and opera productions in Finland and France, including at the MIDEM Festival, Chorégies d'Orange, Théâtre du Châtelet, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Festival d'Aix en Provence, and various French opera houses. Her international performances have taken her to Germany, Austria, Spain, Colombia, Togo, and the United States. She has been invited to accompany master classes with renowned artists such as Tom Krause, Yvonne Minton, Mady Mesplé, Regina Werner, and Janine Reiss.
Learn more about Nina Uhari.
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.
Learn more about Lucien Kandel
