New teachers 2024-2025

Antonello Mazzucco graduated from the S. Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, with. At the same time he attended the Konservatorium fur Musik in Bern in P. Bucher's class.

In the United States he studied with C. Vernon, bass trombone of the Chicago Symphony, A.Jacobs, brass teacher and J. Alessi, principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic.
In Italy he continued his studies with A. Conti, first trombone of the Florentine May, now first trombone of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

For about three years he played in the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana as bass trombone, for short periods in the Filarmonica della Scala and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 1995 he won the competition for tenor and bass trombone in the Rai National Symphony Orchestra, where he still works today.

He has been working for more than 10 years in the Fossano Musica Foundation, a music institute where he also organizes masterclasses with international teachers.

He is active in chamber musicas a member of the Spilimbrass quintet,with whom has also recorded a CD. 

Born in 1981, Axel Schacher began studying the violin at the age of 4. At the age of twelve he won the Royaume de la Musique tournament, organised by the Maison de la Radio in Paris, and played E. Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole at the prize-winners' concert, accompanied by the Garde Républicaine orchestra. At the age of thirteen, he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in Boris Garlitski's class.

In 1998, he was awarded first prize by the city of Paris, and in 2000 first prize with honours from the Conservatoire National de Musique de Paris. In 1998 he won the Andrea Postacchini International Competition, and in 2000 he won second prize in the Tibor Varga International Competition, as well as special prizes for the best interpretation of Bach's work and Paganini's Caprice. Since 2003, he has been First Solo Violin with the Basel Symphony Orchestra.

He taught chamber music at the Guildhall School of London from 2010 to 2015. For over twelve years he was a member of the internationally renowned Belcea Quartet, which has performed for almost thirty years in the most prestigious concert halls (Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Boulez Saal,

 Helbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Wien) and with musicians such as Tabea Zimmerman, Piotr Anderszerwski, Matthias Goerne, Jean Guihen Queyras, Antoine Tamestit, Martin Fröst, Elisabeth Leonska, Jorg Widmann and Ian Bostridge. The Belcea Quartet has made over twenty-five recordings to international acclaim.

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.

Milena Viotti was born in 1988 in Lausanne. She started playing the horn at the age of 9 and began her studies with Marc Bouchard at the Conservatoire du Luxembourg. She studied at the Conservatoire Nationale Régionale de Lyon under Joec Nicod and since 2007 has studied in Basel and Stuttgart with Christian Lampert and Erich Penzel. Milena has played with the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Swiss Jugend-Sinfonie-Orchesters. Milena was a member of the Orchestra Academy of the Bayerische Staatsoper before being appointed as third horn in 2010.

To know more about Milena Viotti

Marius Brenciu was born in Romania. His repertoire includes Alfredo in La traviata, Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra, Macduff in Macbeth, Fenton in Falstaff, Ismaele in Nabucco (Verdi), Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, the title role in Idomeneo (Mozart), Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) and many other roles.
He performs regularly at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper and the opera houses of Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Lyon, Munich, Lisbon, Geneva, Toulouse, Florence, Rome and many others. Marius Brenciu's recent opera activities included Rodolfo (La Bohème) in Hamburg and Tel Aviv; Alfredo (La Traviata) in Berlin, Rome, Brussel; Count Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in Lyon and Lisbon, Adorno (Simon Boccanegra) in Hamburg; Macduff (Macbeth) at the Edinburgh Festival and Amsterdam. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2008 with an overwhelming success in La Rondine (Puccini), opera which he also sang in Paris and Toulouse.

To know more about Marius Brenciu

Nicolas is an award-winning Swiss composer and sound creator specialised in music for moving images. He mainly creates his music by recording and synthesising the many instruments and objects treasured in his studio in Geneva, which he then combines with other musicians and ensembles.

Trained both classically (HEM) and in jazz (IMEP), he is as comfortable with an orchestra in a concert hall as with a modular synth creating experimental textures, or even with a guitar singing pop songs. This horizontal approach to music is his signature, and helps him find a unique sound for each score.

In the last fifteen years, he has worked on more than fifty projects with European and Swiss filmmakers.

Nicolas Rabaeus website

Katharina Rosenberger, born in Zurich, is Professor of Composition and has taught composition and sound art at the University of California San Diego for 12 years. Starting April 2021 she will hold the professorship for composition at the University of Music Lübeck.

Her compositions, installations and interdisciplinary stage work have been featured at festivals such as the Warschauer Herbst, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Heroines of Sound, Berlin, KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Hannover, Weimarer Frühlingstage, DE, ZeitRäume Basel, Musikfestival Bern, Tage für Neue Musik, Zürich, Festival Archipel, Geneva, CH, Festival Les Musiques, Marseille, FR, Festival Bernaola, Vitoria-Gasteiz, ES, Felicja Blumental Festival, Tel Aviv, IL, Festival reMusik, St. Petersburg, RU, Festival Visiones Sonoras, Morelia, MX, Shanghai Electronic Music Week, Shanghai New Music Days, CN, October Contemporary, Hongkong, HK, as well as in many concert series throughout Europe and the United States.

Rosenberger is a recipient of the 2023 Swiss Music Prize and 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship. In the past, she has been awarded with the Hellman Fellowship, San Francisco, the Sony Scholar Award, and the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung Commission for her composition Gesang an das noch namenlose Land. Her installation work VIVA VOCE and Room V won the “Mediaprojects Award” /  Sitemapping of the Swiss Federal Agency (OFC), Berne.

Katharina Rosenberger website

Sophie Gent, a renowned Australian violinist, studied classical violin in Perth with Paul Wright before immersing herself in baroque violin under the tutelage of Ryo Terakado at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. A winner of prestigious competitions, she has distinguished herself as soloist and concertmaster in prestigious ensembles such as the Ricercar Consort and Il Gardellino, while founding her own ensemble, The Queens Consort, in 2010.

Currently based in France, Sophie Gent has shared her expertise by teaching baroque violin at the Amsterdam Conservatory and giving masterclasses around the world. A passionate and inspiring teacher, she continues to make her mark on the world of early music as an accomplished musician, while continuing to perform with ensembles such as Ensemble Masques and Orchestre Pygmalion.

To know more about Sophie Gent

Johanna Bartz is an internationally renowned flutist from northern Germany. A Renaissance flute teacher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis since 2016, she also conducts astrophil & stella and performs as a guest musician with prestigious ensembles across Europe. Versatile, she explores co-contemporary and electronic music, while sharing her expertise at conferences in renowned institutions (Mozarteum Salzburg, UdK Berlin, ESMAE Porto, ESMUC Barcelona).

Alongside her academic commitments, Johanna Bartz co-founded the artists' platform 'Phosphenes' and left a lasting mark on music recording, contributing to numerous CDs and radio broadcasts. The winner of numerous international prizes, she will bring her musical excellence to Geneva's Haute école de musique from September 2024, inspiring students with her passion.

Johanna Bartz website

Comprising Corina Belcea (violin), Suyeon Kang (violin), Krzysztof Chorzelski (viola) and Antoine Lederlin (cello), the Quatuor Belcea enjoys a solid reputation on the international music scene and already boasts an impressive discography.  The quartet's repertoire spans the entire range of music written for quartet, from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to Bartok, Janacek, Britten and Szymanowski. It also regularly presents works by contemporary composers.

The presence of the Quatuor Belcea at the HEM represents a unique opportunity for students to benefit from comprehensive practical and theoretical training provided by an experienced ensemble with an in-depth knowledge of every facet of the musician's craft. There is no doubt that the Quatuor Belcea's professionalism, curiosity and eclecticism will be a source of inspiration for our students in both the classical and contemporary repertoires.

Belcea Quartet website