Susanne Schimmack

Professor of Voice

"Sensational!" "First class." "Impressive!" This is how the press describes the performances of Susanne Schimmack. When the German soprano Susanne Schimmack competed in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1997, she was described as "the Rolls Royce of voices." "Susanne Schimmack's Cassandra dominates the entire performance with her noble phrasing, intelligent interpretation of the role, and excellent French diction" (Opéra). Since then, Susanne Schimmack has successfully sung around 90 opera roles, including Turandot, Kundry/Parsifal, Feldmarschallin/Rosenkavalier, Marta Tiefland, Ellen Orford/Peter Grimes, Cassandra/Les Troyens, and Carmen/Carmen. Her engagements have taken her to the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the National Czech Opera in Brno, the Staatstheater in Mainz, the Nationaltheater in Mannheim, Opera Pacific USA, Arizona Opera USA, the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern, the theaters of Dortmund, Frankfurt, Chemnitz, the Staatstheater in Kassel, Dessau, Lübeck, Ulm, Trier, Wuppertal, Gera, the Dresden Music Festival, the Budapest Spring Festival, the Festival d'Auvers-sur-Oise in France, the Bad Hersfeld Festival, and the broadcasting companies BBC, DR, ZDF, WDR, and NDR. Alongside Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, she recorded a complete edition of Massenet's Manon under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano. Born in Witten, Germany, Ms. Schimmack received her artistic training in the United States at the University of California, Irvine. Masterclasses with Martin Katz, Marilyn Horne, Professor Ellen Müller-Preiss, and Ks. Christa Ludwig in New York complemented her studies. She further developed her vocal technique and transitioned from alto to dramatic soprano with Ks. Martha Dewal and Ks. Ileana Cotrubas in Vienna and David Jones in New York. She made her professional opera debut as Rossweisse/Walküre with Arizona Opera USA in 1991 and her German debut as Erda/Rheingold. Susanne Schimmack was the first soloist at the Dortmund Opera from 1993 to 1998 and at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen from 1998 to 2000. She has worked as an independent singer since 2000 and has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Thomas Dausgaard, Michael Schønwandt, Frank Beermann, Giordano Bellincampi, Laurent Wagner, and directors Sir Peter Hall, John Dew, and Heinz Lukas-Kindermann. Susanne Schimmack's repertoire also includes oratorio and lieder, particularly the great song cycles of Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Richard Wagner. She is a laureate of several international competitions: the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, the International Wagnerian Voices Competition, and the International Singing Competition of Paris. She received the Jessye Norman Scholarship from the Orange County Philharmonic Society USA and the Bajazzo Prize from the Dortmund Opera for her outstanding artistic achievement. Learn more about Susanne Schimmack

Gérard Metrailler

Professor of trompet

Beginning his musical journey at the Harmonie de Chalais and later becoming a member of the Brass Band 13 Étoiles, Gérard Métrailler continued his musical studies at the Conservatoire de musique de Genève under Mario Alberti, and later with Michel Cuvit, earning a Diploma with highest honors in 1985 followed by a First Prize in Virtuosity in 1988. Even before completing his studies, he was appointed as a substitute principal trumpet player with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in 1987. In Geneva, he won the 2nd prize at the International Music Performance Competition in 1987 and the 2nd prize at the Maurice André Competition in Paris in 1988. He also received the Bronze Medal at the International Festival of Young Soloists in Bordeaux in 1989. His repertoire includes major trumpet concertos by composers such as Haydn, Hummel, and Tomasi, but he also emphasizes works by Swiss composers like Hindemith, Zbinden, and Schmidt. He excels in pieces for trumpet and chamber orchestra or organ by Albinoni, Bach, Tartini, and Vivaldi. Currently, Gérard Métrailler is a trumpet player with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, principal trumpet of the contemporary music ensemble Contrechamps, and a member of the Quintet du Rhône. Gérard Métrailler conducts masterclasses in Switzerland, France, Italy, New Zealand, and Brazil. He has been a professor of trumpet at the Haute école de musique de Genève since 1994. Learn more about Gérard Métrailler.

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  

Noémie Bialobroda

Professor of viola - Chamber Music with Strings - Coordinator of Chamber Music (GE)

Noémie Bialobroda will be a viola professor for the 2026–2027 academic year. Born in Paris, violist Noémie Bialobroda performs worldwide on stages such as Wigmore Hall in London, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Concertgebouw in Rotterdam, Salle Gaveau, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre d’Aix en Provence, and Alte Oper Frankfurt. Since 2014, she has been the violist of the Quatuor Aviv, with which she leads an international career. In 2021, a recording dedicated to Franz Schubert's last two quartets was released on the Aparté label, receiving unanimous praise from the international press. A dedicated educator, she is a professor and coordinator of chamber music at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM). She is also a professor of viola at the CNSMD de Lyon. Engaged in the creation and performance of contemporary music, Noémie has forged close relationships with key figures in this repertoire. She regularly collaborates with Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva, and IRCAM in Paris. She premiered two pieces for viola and electronics dedicated to her: "Caprice" by composer Keïta Matsumiya and "Drifting [mirages...]" by Pierre Stordeur. In 2020, alongside violinist Sergey Ostrovsky, she founded and assumed the artistic direction of the Geneva International String Academy, offering promising young musicians the opportunity to study and perform with accomplished musicians over the summer. Noémie Bialobroda trained with Nobuko Imai at the HEM, before pursuing advanced studies with Jean Sulem at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. She plays a viola by Carlo Giuseppe Testore and a bow by Benoît Rolland. Learn more about Noémie Bialobroda  

Laura Monica Pustilnik

Professor of Lute - Basso Continuo on the Instrument (for Lutenists)

After studying guitar and piano at the Conservatorio Nacional Lopez Buchardo in Argentina, Mónica Pustilnik completed her training in 2010 with a Master of Arts at the Schola Cantorum in Basel under Hopkinson Smith. She specializes in the baroque and renaissance repertoire for lute and completed her training with Jesper Christensen for basso continuo on the lute and harpsichord, Rolf Lislevand at the Musikhochschule in Trossingen, Germany, Michel Corboz in choral conducting at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Genève, and Jordi Mora in orchestral conducting in Barcelona. Mónica Pustilnik is very active as a soloist, chamber musician, and in opera or oratorio productions. She regularly performs and records with renowned ensembles such as Le Concert d’Astrée (dir. Emmanuelle Haïm), La Cappella Mediterranea (dir. Leonardo García Alarcón), Les Musiciens du Louvre (dir. Marc Minkowski), Les Talens Lyriques (dir. Christophe Rousset), Concerto Vocale (dir. René Jacobs), Ensemble Elyma (dir. Gabriel Garrido), Les Arts Florissants (W. Christie), and many others. Mónica Pustilnik has assisted in the musical direction of Cavalli’s Eliogabalo at the Opéra Garnier in Paris, Cavalli’s Elena at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Opéra de Lille, Cavalli’s Hipermestra at the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Haute école de musique de Genève. She has performed in recitals at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Poznan Festival (Poland), Ravello (Italy), Freunde Alter Musik Basel, and has developed numerous chamber music programs at the Opéra de Lille. In 2014, she directed performances of Cavalli’s Elena at the Opéra de Nantes and Angers. Mónica Pustilnik records for the labels Harmonia Mundi, Naïve, Virgin, Arcana, Glossa, and K617. Her solo recording, featuring works by Alessandro Piccinini for the Accent label in 2014, was highly praised by critics. Her pedagogical activities have led her to teach lute, basso continuo, and chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Música de Cataluña in Barcelona, the Conservatorio A. Scontrino in Trapani (Italy), and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. Mónica Pustilnik has been teaching lute at the Haute école de musique de Genève since September 2017. Learn more about Laura Monica Pustilnik

Florence Jaccottet

Head of the Music and Movement Department - Rhythmician, teacher, movement artist

Born in Lausanne in 1989, Florence Jaccottet is currently Head of the Music and Movement Department at the Geneva University of Music (HEM), where she has been teaching rhythm, movement technique and composition, and creative experimentation workshops since 2019. A specialist in the Jaques-Dalcroze method, she has over 10 years' experience in teaching rhythm, acquired in particular at the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute, where she taught a variety of audiences for several years. Her teaching has been recognised with several awards, including a prize for excellence in music theory teaching and the Alethéia Foundation Prize for the creation of ‘Entrée en matières’ (2017), in collaboration with percussionist Michael Chapon. Florence Jaccottet was trained from childhood in Jaques-Dalcroze eurhythmics at the Lausanne Conservatory. She also studied piano there in Helena Maffli's class, obtaining a Prize for Excellence in 2008. At the HEM Geneva, she pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Movement (Marguerite Croptier Lange Teaching Prize, 2011), a Master of Arts in Jaques-Dalcroze Pedagogy (Jaques-Dalcroze Institute Prize, 2013), and then a Higher Diploma, obtained in 2019. Alongside her teaching, Florence Jaccottet is developing artistic research focused on the musicality of improvised movement. She has a particular interest in contemporary music repertoire, collaborations with composers, and performative and sound experiments. Placed at the heart of her artistic research, the expression of rhythm and musicality of movement through improvisation makes her dance a unique contemporary language. Also active internationally, Florence Jaccottet is regularly invited to teach, notably in Seoul, Montreal and Beijing.

Joshua Hyde

Professor of Saxophone - Chamber Music with Saxophone - Contemporary Chamber Music

Joshua Hyde is a saxophonist, improviser, and composer. Internationally recognized as a contemporary music performer, he is the co-artistic director and saxophonist of the Paris-based ensemble soundinitiative and a member of the duo scapegoat with Canadian percussionist Noam Bierstone. He is also a member of Australia's leading contemporary music ensemble, Elision, and is frequently invited to perform with major European ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Musikfabrik, Ensemble Nadar, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Joshua has recorded with Kairos, Integrated Records, NMC, HCR, Wergo, and Torpor Vigil. His collaborations with composers worldwide have resulted in a long list of premieres. Comfortable in the world of improvisation, his latest album on Integrated Records, Sol, features a series of improvised reflections. Particularly interested in creating immersive performance contexts, his compositions often incorporate his own videos and visual arts. In 2018, the New Thread Quartet premiered Bring mir einen Engel zurück at the DiMenna Center in New York City, and in 2017, part of his Vertical Horizons series was premiered by the ensemble Son d'Arte at Casa da Música in Porto. Joshua has been invited to perform and teach at universities worldwide, including Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford. He is also part of the artistic leadership team of the Asia Pacific Saxophone Academy. In 2011, he won the First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 3rd Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition, and in 2014, he was a laureate of the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in saxophone (class of Claude Delangle), chamber music (class of Hae-Sun Kang and Frédéric Stochl), and generative improvisation (class of Vincent LeQuang and Alexandros Markeas), he also studied at the CRR de Bordeaux (class of Marie-Bernadette Charrier), CRR de Versailles (class of Vincent David), and the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne (classes of Barry Cockroft and Ian Godfrey). Learn more about Joshua Hyde.

Jean-Pierre Berry

Professeur de cor a.i.

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.

Heidi Brunner

Professor of Singing - Audition and Competition Preparation

Native of Lucerne (CH), Heidi Brunner studied singing, organ, and conducting in Lucerne, Basel, and Zurich. At the age of 17, she was already an organist and choir director before beginning her singing career at the age of 28. Her first engagements as an opera singer led her to Biel, where she debuted in the title role in Rossini's "La Cenerentola." She then took engagements in Basel, Innsbruck, and Dessau. She performed at the Komische Oper in Berlin (La Cenerentola and Charlotte in Werther, among others) before being engaged as a resident artist at the Staatsoper and the Volksoper and Theater an der Wien in Vienna from 1996 to 2008 (where she performed roles such as La Cenerentola, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Idamante in Idomeneo, Die Sekretärin in Der Konsul by G.C. Menotti, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Zerlina and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Nicklausse in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Sesto, Anio and Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, Adalgisa in Norma, and the title role in La Périchole). In 1998, she made her debut in Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" at the Opernfestspiele in Munich and the Wiener Festwochen. She reprised the role of Idamante at the Klangbogen Festival at the Theater an der Wien and performed at venues such as the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Salzburg Festival. She has appeared in recitals and concerts at venues such as the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Santiago de Compostela, Milan, Pesaro, Lyon, Paris, Lucerne, Zurich, Basel, Bern, Lisbon, Frankfurt, Bergen, Helsingborg, Turin, and Munich. Her repertoire expanded with roles in Schreker's "Irrelohe" and Schmidt's "Notre Dame" at the Volksoper in Vienna, Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler" at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Schoenberg's "Erwartung" at the Komische Oper Berlin and at the Musikverein in Vienna. She made her debut in the roles of Brangäne in "Tristan und Isolde" at the Amsterdam Opera and the Liceu in Barcelona, Marie (Wozzeck) at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito) and Marta (Tiefland) in Vienna, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Madame Lidoine (Dialogues des Carmélites) at the Theater an der Wien, Kundry (Parsifal) at the Teatro Regio Turin, Giulietta (Les Contes d'Hoffmann) and the Mother in "Kullervo" by Aulis Sallinen at the Frankfurt Opera, and Sieglinde (Die Walküre) at the Staatsoper Hamburg. In 2015, she made her debut as Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites). That same year, she sang the mezzo-soprano part in Verdi's Requiem in Vienna and performed "The Seven Deadly Sins" by Kurt Weill in the Forbidden City in Beijing. She has worked with renowned conductors such as Marco Armiliato, Ivor Bolton, Thüring Bräm, Bertrand de Billy, Alfred Eschwé, Lawrence Foster, Gabriele Ferro, Leopold Hager, Friedrich Haider, Thomas Hengelbrock, René Jacobs, Philippe Jordan, Alois Koch, Ingo Metzmacher, Franz Welser-Möst, Hervé Niquet, Arnold Oestmann, Kirill Petrenko, Markus Poschner, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schneider, Marcello Viotti, Sebastian Weigle, Simone Young, and Alberto Zedda. Heidi Brunner has recorded numerous CDs, including "Jubilate Deo," "Te Deum" by De Lalande (ERATO), "Così fan tutte," "Don Giovanni," and "Le Nozze di Figaro" (SONY/BMG), excerpts from "Tristan und Isolde," and a solo album with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since 2020, Heidi Brunner has been a Professor of Singing at the Haute école de musique de Genève, where she regularly gives masterclasses. Learn more about Heidi Brunner