Benjamin Appl
Benjamin Appl
Benjamin Appl is renowned for the expressive richness of his voice, described by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as belonging “to the last great masters of singing,” endowed with an almost infinite palette of colors.
His musical training began at an early age when he became a chorister with the famous Regensburger Domspatzen choir. He later pursued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. During this period, he benefited from the mentorship of the legendary baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a decisive encounter that he considers a major artistic influence.
His international career quickly flourished: a former BBC New Generation Artist, Wigmore Hall Emerging Artist, and ECHO Rising Star, he received the Gramophone Young Artist of the Year award in 2016. He has collaborated with major record labels, notably Sony Classical and later Alpha Classics, recording several critically acclaimed albums.
Equally appreciated in recital and with orchestra, Benjamin Appl performs in many prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and Carnegie Hall, and collaborates with leading orchestras. On the opera stage, he has notably performed the roles of Papageno in The Magic Flute and Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos.
Alongside his performing career, he currently teaches German Lied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.
Lionel Cottet
Lionel Cottet
Lionel Cottet joined the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as principal cello in 2022.
Born in Geneva in 1987, he studied at the Juilliard School in New York, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Zurich Hochschule, and the Geneva Conservatory, under the guidance of Joel Krosnick, Clemens Hagen, Thomas Grossenbacher, and François Guye.
Appointed principal cello of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in 2016, he also pursues an international career as a soloist and chamber musician on some of the world’s greatest stages, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, and Vienna’s Musikverein. Passionate about chamber music, he regularly appears at major festivals such as Marlboro, Bergen, Verbier, and Gstaad, alongside artists including Perlman, Uchida, and Levit, as well as in duo with Schwizgebel-Wang. He has also performed with the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic and within that legendary orchestra itself.
Winner of numerous international competitions (the Lutosławski Competition in Warsaw, the Brahms Competition in Austria, and the Astral Artist Auditions in Philadelphia) and finalist of the Eurovision Competition, he is also laureate of the Swiss Ambassador’s Award, Migros Culture Percentage Soloist Prize, and recipient of grants from the Leenaards and Wilsdorf foundations.
Jorge Viladoms
Jorge Viladoms
Jorge Viladoms is a Mexican pianist born in 1985 in Durango. His artistic journey is unique: he began learning the piano relatively late, at the age of fifteen, in his hometown. After only a few years of study, he was admitted to the professional class of the Conservatoire de Lausanne in Switzerland, where he continued his training under pianist Pierre Goy.
He later completed his studies at the Zurich University of the Arts in the class of Homero Francesch, earning a Master of Arts in Performance as well as a diploma in music pedagogy with the jury’s highest honors. Winner of several distinctions, including the Kiefer Hablitzel Competition and the Gabrielle Agostini Prize, he was appointed professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Lausanne in 2011, becoming one of the institution’s youngest teachers.
Alongside his teaching activities, Jorge Viladoms has developed an international career as a concert pianist. He has performed in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and the Bunkamura Theatre in Tokyo, as well as at numerous festivals and concert halls across Europe and Asia.
Deeply committed to social causes, he founded the Crescendo con la Música foundation in 2012, which provides instruments and musical education to disadvantaged children, particularly in Mexico. Through this initiative, he promotes the belief that music can transform lives and open new horizons for younger generations.
Ensemble Astera
Ensemble Astera
Ensemble Astera is the wind quintet awarded First Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition 2023. Since 2019, united by friendship and driven by a shared passion for chamber music, its musicians have sought to share their essential vision as chamber artists: blending the sounds and timbres of five wind instruments in pursuit of unity and profound artistic expression.
Driven by tireless enthusiasm, the musicians devote their energy to performances that are remarkable, moving, thoughtful, and deeply committed, making full use of the sonic possibilities offered by their ensemble. Faithful to the spirit of openness suggested by its name, Ensemble Astera gladly expands its formation with piano or other instruments in order to explore the many facets of the wind chamber music repertoire.
As demonstrated by its Prize for Best Performance of a Contemporary Work at the Nielsen Competition, the ensemble’s artistic dynamism is also characterized by its commitment to contemporary repertoire and its strong desire to bring innovative music into concert halls. In this spirit, Ensemble Astera recorded Fazıl Say’s wind quintet Alevi dedeler rakı masasında (2011) and is the dedicatee of Swiss composer Kevin Juillerat’s work Whirls, premiered in summer 2025. Ensemble Astera performs at numerous festivals and concert seasons across Europe, including Lavaux Classic, the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival, Davos Festival, Festival Radio France, the Rencontres Musicales d’Évian, and Murten Classics.
Since 2023, Ensemble Astera has been Artist-in-Residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris. In summer 2024, the ensemble recorded its first album devoted to works by Debussy, Nielsen, Say, and Barber, released in May 2025 on the Swiss label Claves.
Benjamin Appl
Benjamin Appl is renowned for the expressive richness of his voice, described by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as belonging “to the last great masters of singing,” endowed with an almost infinite palette of colors.
His musical training began at an early age when he became a chorister with the famous Regensburger Domspatzen choir. He later pursued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. During this period, he benefited from the mentorship of the legendary baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a decisive encounter that he considers a major artistic influence.
His international career quickly flourished: a former BBC New Generation Artist, Wigmore Hall Emerging Artist, and ECHO Rising Star, he received the Gramophone Young Artist of the Year award in 2016. He has collaborated with major record labels, notably Sony Classical and later Alpha Classics, recording several critically acclaimed albums.
Equally appreciated in recital and with orchestra, Benjamin Appl performs in many prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and Carnegie Hall, and collaborates with leading orchestras. On the opera stage, he has notably performed the roles of Papageno in The Magic Flute and Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos.
Alongside his performing career, he currently teaches German Lied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.
Lionel Cottet
Lionel Cottet joined the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as principal cello in 2022.
Born in Geneva in 1987, he studied at the Juilliard School in New York, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Zurich Hochschule, and the Geneva Conservatory, under the guidance of Joel Krosnick, Clemens Hagen, Thomas Grossenbacher, and François Guye.
Appointed principal cello of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in 2016, he also pursues an international career as a soloist and chamber musician on some of the world’s greatest stages, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, and Vienna’s Musikverein. Passionate about chamber music, he regularly appears at major festivals such as Marlboro, Bergen, Verbier, and Gstaad, alongside artists including Perlman, Uchida, and Levit, as well as in duo with Schwizgebel-Wang. He has also performed with the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic and within that legendary orchestra itself.
Winner of numerous international competitions (the Lutosławski Competition in Warsaw, the Brahms Competition in Austria, and the Astral Artist Auditions in Philadelphia) and finalist of the Eurovision Competition, he is also laureate of the Swiss Ambassador’s Award, Migros Culture Percentage Soloist Prize, and recipient of grants from the Leenaards and Wilsdorf foundations.
Jorge Viladoms
Jorge Viladoms is a Mexican pianist born in 1985 in Durango. His artistic journey is unique: he began learning the piano relatively late, at the age of fifteen, in his hometown. After only a few years of study, he was admitted to the professional class of the Conservatoire de Lausanne in Switzerland, where he continued his training under pianist Pierre Goy.
He later completed his studies at the Zurich University of the Arts in the class of Homero Francesch, earning a Master of Arts in Performance as well as a diploma in music pedagogy with the jury’s highest honors. Winner of several distinctions, including the Kiefer Hablitzel Competition and the Gabrielle Agostini Prize, he was appointed professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Lausanne in 2011, becoming one of the institution’s youngest teachers.
Alongside his teaching activities, Jorge Viladoms has developed an international career as a concert pianist. He has performed in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and the Bunkamura Theatre in Tokyo, as well as at numerous festivals and concert halls across Europe and Asia.
Deeply committed to social causes, he founded the Crescendo con la Música foundation in 2012, which provides instruments and musical education to disadvantaged children, particularly in Mexico. Through this initiative, he promotes the belief that music can transform lives and open new horizons for younger generations.
Ensemble Astera
Ensemble Astera is the wind quintet awarded First Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition 2023. Since 2019, united by friendship and driven by a shared passion for chamber music, its musicians have sought to share their essential vision as chamber artists: blending the sounds and timbres of five wind instruments in pursuit of unity and profound artistic expression.
Driven by tireless enthusiasm, the musicians devote their energy to performances that are remarkable, moving, thoughtful, and deeply committed, making full use of the sonic possibilities offered by their ensemble. Faithful to the spirit of openness suggested by its name, Ensemble Astera gladly expands its formation with piano or other instruments in order to explore the many facets of the wind chamber music repertoire.
As demonstrated by its Prize for Best Performance of a Contemporary Work at the Nielsen Competition, the ensemble’s artistic dynamism is also characterized by its commitment to contemporary repertoire and its strong desire to bring innovative music into concert halls. In this spirit, Ensemble Astera recorded Fazıl Say’s wind quintet Alevi dedeler rakı masasında (2011) and is the dedicatee of Swiss composer Kevin Juillerat’s work Whirls, premiered in summer 2025. Ensemble Astera performs at numerous festivals and concert seasons across Europe, including Lavaux Classic, the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival, Davos Festival, Festival Radio France, the Rencontres Musicales d’Évian, and Murten Classics.
Since 2023, Ensemble Astera has been Artist-in-Residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris. In summer 2024, the ensemble recorded its first album devoted to works by Debussy, Nielsen, Say, and Barber, released in May 2025 on the Swiss label Claves.
FONDATION JERZY SEMKOW
FONDATION FERN MOFFAT
FONDATION NOTAIRE ANDRE ROCHAT
FONDATION UPSILOS
