DOMINIQUE WEBER 

Esteemed colleague, master and friend, Dominique Weber, piano teacher at the HEM, has decided to leave us in the night of Wednesday 29 to Thursday 30 April.

After brilliant piano studies, notably with Carlo Zecchi, Eduardo Vercelli and Leon Fleisher - for whom he was assistant at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, USA - and a dazzling start to his international career following his first prize at the Young Concert Artist in New York, Dominique Weber's life as a performer suddenly changed due to an accident that gradually deprived him of control of his right hand. He then devoted himself to teaching at the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique de Genève before taking over the class of his master Eduardo Vercelli at our institution (1990 - 2020) and at the Conservatoire Tibor Varga in Sion (1993 - 2004). He has been frequently invited to give masterclasses in Europe, the USA and Asia.

For many years he has been suffering from an extremely painful illness. He only returned on stage for occasional but memorable recitals that testified to his extreme sensibility and the glowing perfection of his playing. He put all his passion and artistic integrity at the service of transmission and marked each student by the uncompromising intensity with which he supported them in their quest for meaning through, and beyond, their instrument.

The HEM is already planning to organise next autumn a tribute which will allow all people - students, ex-students, friends - who wish to express their gratitude to be able to take part in it in person.