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.
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.
Marcin
Habela
Professor of Voice
Dr. Marcin Habela, a baritone, vocal professor, and researcher, is particularly renowned for his versatility in repertoire, innovative pedagogy aligned with the latest voice science advancements, and his extensive international professional networks.
Trained at the Conservatoire de Paris, he won several international prizes that paved the way for a prestigious career. He has performed over 80 roles spanning a vast repertoire (including Ford, Figaro, Sharpless, Oneguine...) on major stages such as Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Warsaw, Athens, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Bremen, Frankfurt, Lausanne, Almaty, and Krakow.
He has sung alongside notable artists like R. Alagna, J. van Dam, T. Hampson, K. Mattila, L. Oropesa, P. Petibon, K. Deshayes in productions conducted by S. Rattle, Ch. von Dohnanyi, J. Tate, E. Krivine, A. Pappano, and directed by A. Arias, S. Braunschweig, M. Hampe, A. Serban, Ph. Himmelman, and S. Poda.
Passionate about contemporary music, he has premiered numerous works by 20th and 21st-century composers in prestigious settings such as Warsaw Autumn, Sacrum Profanum, and the Malta Festival with ensembles like 2E2M and Contrechamps. His concert repertoire ranges from Monteverdi to Britten, with recordings for Radio France, TSR, SBB, EMI, RAI, Espace 2, Virgin, RTS, and SevenStarsSystems.
Critically acclaimed for his creation of Raoul Wallenberg in Kingsley and Kunze's opera "Raoul," he received the Grand Prix du Public for best performer at the Mezzo TV International Opera Competition in November 2008.
In addition to his operatic career, since 2014, he has gained solid experience in musical and experimental theater, and performs concerts with jazz, musical comedy, and symphonic cabaret repertoires.
A vocal professor at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM) since 2005, he was head of the vocal department from 2011 to 2022. He initiated the European Opera Academy (EOA) and established numerous institutional collaborations at the cantonal, national, and international levels. Active in professional circles, he serves on the juries of international singing competitions (Ada Sari, Szymanowski Competition, Mahler Competition, ARMEL, Geneva Competition...) and is a member of various artistic commissions (Tibor Varga Academy, Geneva International Competition, European Opera Academy, MAAKSS).
A renowned vocal professor, he is regularly invited to give masterclasses across Europe (Tibor Varga Academy in Sion, Lugano, Stockholm, Warsaw, Porto, Gdansk, Frankfurt, Oslo, Antwerp, Bucharest, Krakow, Paris, Hamburg, Athens...) and internationally (Japan, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Australia, Russia, China...).
With a PhD in arts, specializing in contemporary vocalities, he leads numerous research projects, including in vocal pedagogy (improvisation, national singing schools). He fosters prestigious international collaborations with institutions such as the University of the Arts Oslo, Kapodistrias University of Athens, CNSMDP, Kazakh National Conservatory in Almaty, Astana University of the Arts, UFCM Warsaw, the neuroscience faculty of UNIGE, the medical faculty of Lyon 2 University, and Maastricht Conservatory.
Particularly attentive to his students' professional integration, he maintains a vast international network (opera studios, casting directors, artistic agencies...), with former students like Julien Behr, Marion Grange, Mélody Louledjian, and Diana Lamar performing on prestigious stages such as the MET in New York, Opéra de Paris, and Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He has also trained a generation of pedagogues (Anna Maske, Gabriella Cavasino, Fabrice Farina, Davide Autieri, Magali Pérol-Dumora...) currently teaching at prestigious Swiss institutions.
Learn more about Marcin Habela
Julien
Zufferey
Professor of Violin
Heir to three of the most prestigious international violin schools (Hungarian, Russian, and Jewish-American), violinist Julien Zufferey offers a productive synthesis of these diverse approaches, both in technique and musical interpretation.
During this course, students will undertake in-depth work to find the keys that will enable them to make as conscious a musical choice as possible, and benefit from discovering their own interpretative path.
Regularly invited to serve on juries for national and international competitions (Il Piccolo Violino Magico, Concorso Internazionale Città di Villafranca), and a respected expert for pre-professional classes in French-speaking Switzerland, Julien Zufferey demonstrates his fruitful pedagogical skills within the Lausanne musical institutions (Conservatory and HEMu). He guides young, talented violinists through intensive programs and pre-professional classes to admission into a Haute École. His students are annually winners of national and international competitions; notably, he received an honorary diploma for having the highest number of awarded students across all categories during the 2017 edition of the Concorso Internazionale A. Salieri.
His role as an assistant to Svetlana Makarova at HEMu in Lausanne further broadens his pedagogical contribution by supporting the professional development of young graduates and strengthening his didactic ties with this exceptional professor.
This course is intended for particularly gifted young violinists who aspire to join HEMu and pursue a professional musical career or to refine a competition program.
In addition to numerous appearances on the Swiss stage, he performs throughout Europe as well as in the USA, Israel, and Turkey. Julien Zufferey is a founding member of the Trio Nota Bene, with which he has been performing on the international stage for almost twenty years, collaborating with artists such as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ilya Gringolts, Pierre Amoyal, Shlomo Mintz, Nobuko Imai, Gérard Caussé, Christoph Schiller, Jürg Dähler, Silvia Simionescu, Brigitte Fournier, and Malin Hartelius.
He plays a violin by Vincenzo Trusiano Panormo (1734-1813), generously provided by a Swiss patron.
Learn more about Julien Zufferey.
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.
Loïc
Schneider
Professeur de flûte traversière
Loïc Schneider will join the HEM as flute professor for the 2027–2028 academic year
An internationally renowned flutist, Loïc Schneider has established himself as one of the most brilliant artists of his generation. Recognised by his peers for his artistic qualities, he has won numerous major competitions, including first prize at the Nicolet Competition in 2006, the Larrieu Competition in 2007 and the prestigious ARD Competition in Munich in 2010 (first prize and audience prize).
These distinctions have taken him to the world's greatest concert halls (Bunka Kaikan, Herkulessaal, Bamberg Philharmonie, Lotte Hall, Taipei National Concert Hall, etc.) and fuelled a particularly remarkable career in Asia, where he performs regularly in China, Korea and Taiwan.
Trained in France in Strasbourg, his hometown, then in Paris at the CNSMDP, he began his orchestral career at a very young age: at only 22, he was appointed principal flute of the Orchestre National de Lorraine, before joining the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva in 2009 in the same position, under the direction of leading conductors.
A sought-after soloist and renowned teacher, he is frequently invited to sit on the jury of major international competitions (Geneva, Nicolet, Cluj). He also gives numerous masterclasses around the world, both in Europe and Asia.
Always passionate about passing on his knowledge, he has been teaching for over ten years at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne (HEMU).
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.
Giulia
Genini
Professor of Baroque Bassoon
Born in Lugano, Switzerland, Giulia Genini began her recorder studies at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana with Giorgio Merati. Her interest in early music and period instruments led her to Basel, where she continued her studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Conrad Steinmann. At the same time, she began studying the dulcian and baroque bassoon with Josep Borras and Donna Agrell. In 2008, she received her recorder diploma (performance and pedagogy) with distinction, and in 2010, her Master's degree in historical performance practice in baroque bassoon and dulcian, also with distinction.
She performs as a recorder player and bassoonist with numerous international ensembles and works with renowned conductors. As a soloist, she has performed with the Venice Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Andrea Marcon at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, Settimane Musicali di Ascona, Geneva Victoria Hall, Carinthischer Sommer Festival Ossiach, and New York's Carnegie Hall.
Since 2015, she has often been invited as a guest coach at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, coordinating wind sections for orchestral projects on historical performance practice. She also works there as a co-director of studies in the field of performance.
She is a founding member and artistic director of the ensemble Concerto Scirocco as well as the artistic director of the Festival CaronAntica.
Learn more about Giulia Genini.
Patrick
Beaugiraud
Professor of Baroque Oboe
Patrick Beaugiraud studied oboe with César Ognibène, Jacques Chambon, Maurice Bourgue, and Heinz Holliger, before playing for two years with the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon.
He then dedicated himself more particularly to the interpretation of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic repertoires on original instruments. Appreciated by the best Baroque ensembles, he is notably sought after by the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Bach Collegium Japan, and the Ricercar Consort. His discography is rich with recordings of oboe concertos by Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn, and numerous Bach cantatas, under the direction of Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, Sigiswald Kuijken, or Leonardo Garcia Alarcon. More recently, he has recorded Handel's cantatas, Mozart's quartet with oboe, and Couperin's "Les Goûts Réunis." He is also a founding member of the wind quintet Le Concert Impromptu.
Holder of the State Diploma, he has taught modern oboe at the music schools of Macon, Montélimar, and the CNSM of Lyon before joining the Haute école de musique de Genève to teach Baroque oboe.
Talia
Bachir-Loopuyt
Head of the Ethnomusicology Program - Professor of Ethnomusicology
Talia Bachir-Loopuyt is an ethnomusicologist and anthropologist specialising in the music of the Maghreb and the Middle East (in particular Turkey), and studying its dissemination and transmission in Europe (Germany, France, Switzerland). She trained in Germanic Studies at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon (leading to the Agrégation, 2004), while also studying oriental music (oud, kementche, modal improvisation) at the École Nationale de Musique in Villeurbanne and in Turkey.
Her dissertation, written under the joint supervision of EHESS Paris and Humboldt University (Berlin), focused on world music festivals and the ideal of a plural society in Germany. As a post-doctoral researcher (University of Saint-Etienne, University of Lausanne), she worked on the dissemination of Turkish music in France and on the visibility of Islam, while pursuing work on the history of ethnomusicology, child musicians and music in plural societies.
Since 2016, she has been a senior lecturer at Tours, where she contributed in particular to the creation of the Master Music and Human Sciences (with the University of Poitiers). Involved in several academic organisations (SFE, IMS, ICTM) and journal committees, she is also co-director of the Haizebegi festival in Bayonne and a member of the scientific board of the CMTRA - Ethnopôle Musique, territoires, interculturalité.
