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.
Fabrizio
Chiovetta
Professor of piano
Born in Geneva, with Swiss and Italian nationality, Fabrizio Chiovetta studied with Dominique Weber, John Perry, and Paul Badura-Skoda, becoming a favored disciple of the latter. He has given numerous concerts in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East (Sommets Musicaux and Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Lisztomanias, Victoria Hall, Berlioz Festival, Schloss Elmau, Tonhalle, Princeton Piano Festival, NCPA in Mumbai, National Center in Beijing, Oriental Art Center in Shanghai).
He has performed under the direction of Gábor Takács-Nagy, Arie van Beek, Mikael Toms, and Diego Matheuz. He is also a highly sought-after chamber musician, performing with partners such as the Belcea Quartet, Patrick Messina, Henri Demarquette, Benjamin Appl, Gautier Capuçon, Lise Berthaud, Pierre Fouchenneret, Camille Thomas, Alexandra Conunova, Sarah Nemtanu, Silvia Careddu, Sophie Karthäuser, Marc Coppey, Samuel Hasselhorn, and Werner Güra.
He premiered Tristan Murail's solo piano piece "Le rossignol en amour" and made the first recording of chamber works by Arvo Pärt, Jan Rääts, and André Previn. Also an improviser, he collaborates with musicians from various backgrounds (Vincent Ségal, Grégoire Maret, Marthe Keller).
His recordings for Palexa, Claves Records, and Aparté of works by Schumann, Schubert, Haydn, Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven have been praised by critics (Diapason, CHOC de CLASSICA, FonoForum, American Music Guide).
His latest Schumann album was awarded an "Editor's Choice" by Gramophone and a 10/10 by Classics Today.
Fabrizio Chiovetta has been teaching at the Haute école de musique de Genève on the sites of Geneva and Neuchâtel since 2009.
"His playing is distinguished by its elegance, sense of balance, and refinement." - France Musique
Learn more about Fabrizio Chiovetta.
Paul
Coker
Professor of piano
Born in 1959 in London, Paul Coker studied piano in London at the Yehudi Menuhin School and then at the Royal College of Music. His notable teachers included Vlado Perlemuter and Nadia Boulanger. He also received private instruction from Alfred Brendel. A laureate of numerous awards, including the Jackson Master Award (Boston), he was also named BBC Musician of the Year in 1978.
His solo career has led him to perform with major ensembles such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. Additionally, he was Yehudi Menuhin's partner for ten years. Together, they performed more than two hundred times on stages worldwide, covering the entire repertoire for violin and piano. A chamber music enthusiast, Paul Coker has also collaborated with violinists Pierre Amoyal, Joshua Bell, Nigel Kennedy, and cellists Steven Isserlis, Heinrich Schiff, and Ralph Kirshbaum.
Paul Coker has been teaching piano at the Haute école de musique de Genève since 1995.
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Sylviane
Deferne
Professor of piano
A committed musician with deep expressivity, Swiss pianist Sylviane Deferne has won the hearts of audiences across borders.
Born in Geneva, she completed all her musical studies at the Conservatoire de musique de Genève, graduating with a unanimous Premier Prix de Virtuosité. After winning several competition prizes in Switzerland and abroad, she was named a soloist by the Community of Francophone Radios and quickly embarked on an international career. She has performed in Europe, America, and Asia with notable orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London under the baton of Charles Dutoit. She also loves chamber music and tours with her brilliant colleagues and musician friends in Japan, Brazil, Italy, and Switzerland, creating memorable musical encounters.
Sylviane Deferne has made numerous recordings for the DECCA, Musica Viva, Riche Lieu, and DORON music labels. Regularly invited as a jury member for international competitions, she shares her passion through masterclasses and with her professional students at the Haute école de musique de Genève, where she teaches piano.
Since 2019, Sylviane Deferne has been the artistic director of the Artémont concerts. She brings her passion and personal vision of music to an ever-growing audience, developing significant moments and intergenerational sharing season after season.
Her new solo album, "Der Wanderer," dedicated to Schubert, was released in autumn 2022 by Aparté.
Learn more about Sylviane Deferne.
François
Dumont
Professor of Piano
François Dumont is a laureate of major international competitions such as the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and the Monte-Carlo Piano Masters. Nominated for the Victoires de la Musique, he received the Prix de la Révélation from the French Musical Criticism.
He performs as a soloist with the Orchestre National de France conducted by François-Xavier Roth, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Musikverein in Vienna, and on tour in Japan. Leonard Slatkin invited him to record Ravel's two concertos with the Orchestre National de Lyon for Naxos.
He participates in major festivals such as La Chaise-Dieu, Radio-France Montpellier, Piano aux Jacobins, La Roque d’Anthéron, Chopin in Nohant, Chopin Societies of Paris and Geneva, and the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice.
Born in Lyon, he studied with Pascale Imbert, Chrystel Saussac, and Hervé Billaut, and at fourteen, he joined the CNSMD of Paris in Bruno Rigutto’s class. He furthered his studies at the International Academy of Côme and the Lieven Piano Foundation with Dmitri Bashkirov, Leon Fleisher, William Grant Naboré, Murray Perahia, Menahem Pressler, Andreas Staier, and Fou Ts’ong.
His discography includes over 35 albums, featuring the complete Mozart Sonatas, the complete piano works of Ravel, Beethoven and Schubert trios, as well as recordings of Bach, Chopin, Wagner/Liszt, Fauré, and Mussorgsky, and an ongoing complete series of Mozart concertos with the Orchestre National de Bretagne.
He is an avid chamber musician, performing with Sayaka Shoji, Augustin Dumay, Laurent Korcia, Marc Coppey, Henri Demarquette, Xavier Phillips, the Prazak and Voce quartets, and explores Lied with his wife, soprano Helen Kearns.
He actively collaborates with composers such as Bacri, Dusapin, Finzi, Lacaze, Murail, and Tanguy. Passionate about teaching and pedagogy, he is invited to give masterclasses in Europe and Japan.
Learn more about François Dumont.
Nelson
Goerner
Professor of Piano
Born in 1969 in San Pedro, Argentina, Nelson Goerner began studying piano at the age of five with Jorge Garruba and continued his studies at the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires with Juan Carlos Arabian and Carmen Scalcione. He gave his first concert in his hometown in 1980 and won the First Prize at the Franz Liszt Competition in Buenos Aires in 1986. Thanks to his exceptional talent, Martha Argerich awarded him a scholarship to study at the Conservatoire de Genève in Maria Tipo's virtuosity class.
September 1990 marked a turning point in his career when he won the First Prize at the Geneva Competition unanimously for his performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, which invited him back the following season to perform Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1. This award led to numerous concerts in Europe and a successful tour in Japan.
Since then, Nelson Goerner has been invited by most major French festivals and has given recitals in many European cities. He also performs chamber music with the Takács Quartet in the UK, Spain, Italy, and France, the Carmina Quartet in Switzerland, the Ysaye Quartet in Holland, and with Steven Isserlis and Vadim Repin in London.
Nelson Goerner has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Claus-Peter Flor, the London Philharmonic and the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague under Franz Welser-Möst, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Neeme Järvi, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Andrew Davis, the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and David Zinman, the Netherlands Philharmonic and Vassily Sinaisky, the Bordeaux and Montpellier Orchestras with Yutaka Sado, the Orchestre National de France and Hans Graf, among many others. His future engagements include concerts with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Liège Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, and recitals in London, Paris, Lyon, Manchester, and Dallas.
Nelson Goerner has recorded a Chopin recital (EMI Classics), a Rachmaninov recital and the 12 Transcendental Etudes by Liszt for Cascavelle, Rachmaninov's Preludes and Piano Concerto No. 3 with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Vassily Sinaisky, Busoni's works for piano and orchestra, Liszt's concertos, a Brahms and Schubert recital for Cascavelle, and a new work by John Lord for EMI Classics. His recent recordings of Chopin on historical instruments have earned him a Diapason d'Or.
Learn more about Nelson Goerner.
Cédric
Pescia
Professor of Piano
Born in Lausanne, holding Swiss and French nationality, Cédric Pescia studied at the Conservatories of Lausanne (with Christian Favre) and Geneva (with Dominique Merlet), at the Universität der Künste in Berlin (with Klaus Hellwig), and at the International Piano Academy Lake Como (with D. Bashkirov, L. Fleisher, A. Staier, W. G. Naboré, and Fou T’song). Additionally, he perfected his skills with P.-L. Aimard, D. Barenboim, D. Fischer-Dieskau, I. Gage, I. Gronich, C. Zacharias, and the Alban Berg Quartet.
He won the First Prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 2002 in Salt Lake City, USA.
He gives recitals and concerts with orchestras in Europe, the USA, China, and South America: Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin, Konzerthaus Vienna, Wigmore Hall London, Mozarteum Salzburg, Carnegie Hall New York, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Tonhalle Zurich, Prague Spring Festival, Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Davos Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr. He has a long-standing collaboration with violinist Nurit Stark.
He is the artistic director of the chamber music series Ensemble enScène in Lausanne.
He is a laureate of the Leenaards Foundation in Lausanne and the Music Prize of the Vaud Foundation for Culture. For Claves Records, Aeon, BIS, Genuin, La Dolce Volta, he has recorded works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Couperin, Messiaen, Debussy, Cage, Busoni, Enescu, and Gubaidulina.
In 2012, he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Haute école de musique de Genève.
Learn more about Cédric Pescia
Louis
Schwizgebel
Professor of Piano
Born in 1987 in Geneva, Louis Schwizgebel studied with Brigitte Meyer in Lausanne and Pascal Devoyon in Berlin. At the age of seventeen, he won the Geneva Competition and two years later, the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York. He then studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Emanuel Ax and Robert McDonald, and in London at the Royal Academy with Pascal Nemirovski. In 2012, he won the 2nd prize at the Leeds Piano Competition and was named a BBC New Generation Artist.
Louis Schwizgebel performs with orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, all the BBC orchestras, all the Swiss symphony orchestras including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre National du Capitol de Toulouse, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Wiener Symphoniker, and the Hungarian National Orchestra.
He has worked with conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Fabio Luisi, Marek Janowski, Vasily Petrenko, Lahav Shani, Joshua Weilerstein, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Emmanuel Krivine, Robin Ticciati, James Gaffigan, Edward Gardner, Thierry Fischer, Domingo Hindoyan, John Wilson, and Fabien Gabel.
He appears at festivals such as the BBC Proms, Verbier, Lucerne, Gstaad, Progetto Martha Argerich, Festival Septembre Musical Montreux-Vevey, Bergen, Usedom, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, and Klavier-Festival Ruhr.
Louis Schwizgebel records for the Aparté label (Harmonia Mundi). In 2013, he released his first solo album "Poems," followed by Beethoven's Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Saint-Saëns' Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 with the BBC Symphony. His latest album is dedicated to composer Franz Schubert, featuring Sonatas D845 & 958.
Learn more about Louis Schwizgebel
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