Musicians Archive - Page 30 of 89 - Verbier Festival

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Magnus Lindgren’s constant search for new musical paths, combined with an extraordinary talent, has given him a position in Swedish musical life that is received with respect and fascination all over the world.

Winner of several awards such as Grammis, Swedish Radio Award for Swedish Jazz Album of the Year, Orkesterjournal Gold Record, etc. and the latest at the 65th GRAMMY Awards ® in February 2023, Lindgren together with John Beasly & The SWR Big Band won the GRAMMY® for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, for “Scrapple From The Apple”, from the album Bird Lives.

Magnus‘ ability to express himself on tenor saxophone, clarinet or flute bears the stamp of a true master. As a composer, he has great potential to materialize his own creative impulses. He dresses them in a melodic costume that fits perfectly into the stylistic environment available to him at the time.

But perhaps where Magnus Lindgren shines the most is in his feelings when arranging music. Greatness is in the way he assembles timbres, rhythmic figures, harmonic sequences.

Magnus is constantly working to expand his musical framework, whether through small jazz combinations, big bands, choirs with instrumental soloists, the integration of classical orchestra and jazz ensemble, Swedish folk, heavy funk rhythms, Brazilian samba or traditional African music. Structures and genres always acquire new dimensions in Magnus‘ careful hands.

Rooted in the post-bebop of modern jazz, there are influences from all corners of the world, which is reflected in Lindgren’s compositions from different decades, most of which the group performs along with covers of the treasure trove of modern jazz songs.

The desire for groove mixed with extroverted energy, as well as a minimalist, modestly challenging and playful interplay, is the group’s motto.

“Improvised music is a bridge between people. Through music we can meet people in a universal language where differences disappear and we all meet as one. Big Bands are to Jazz what the Symphony Orchestra is to Classical music. This tradition of combining large ensembles with improvisation remains something that I find most inspiring in music. This inspiration has led to the curiosity to collaborate with musicians from other backgrounds, who may have different preferences to mine.” Magnus Lindgren.

Being the 33rd year of his professional life, Magnus Lindgren is exploring the International arena even more, and is hoping for more and new collaborations and expanding his own borders.

Double Bassist Brendan Kane has performed extensively throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Mr. Kane is the former principal bass of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra upon being appointed and tenured by Music Director Lahav Shani. Prior to the IPO, he was a member of the MET Orchestra for nine seasons, under the direction of Music Directors James Levine and subsequently Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Previously, Mr. Kane held the positions of principal bass of the Orquestra Filharmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil, assistant principal bass of the Vancouver Symphony in Canada and performed as guest principal bass of the Hong Kong Philharmonic at the invitation of Edo de Waart.

For the past 15 years he has been touring the world as principal bass of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (VFCO) under the direction of Music Director Gábor Takács-Nagy, including annual residencies at the Verbier Festival and Schloss Elmau in Bavaria. Additionally, Mr. Kane is a regular guest with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at the invitation of Maestro Iván Fischer and for ten years performed every January at the St. Barths Music Festival in the Caribbean. Currently based in Europe, he has quickly become a much sought-after guest principal, chamber musician and clinician. He frequently performs as guest principal bass with orchestras such as Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Oslo Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Orkest, Geneva’s Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Singapore Symphony amongst others. He has also performed in the bass sections of the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Pittsburgh Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Mr. Kane has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, at the Verbier, Shenzen and Tsinandali festivals, Schloss Elmau, toured South Korea with the International Sejong Soloists, on the Israel Philharmonic’s chamber music series in Tel Aviv amongst numerous other festivals on both sides of the Atlantic alongside musicians such as Pinchas Zukerman, Maxim Vengerov, Leonidas Kavakos, Tabea Zimmerman, Misha Maisky and Sir Andras Schiff among others.

As a student, he was principal bass of the New York String Orchestra Seminar in Carnegie Hall and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, as well as a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, where he has returned numerous times as visiting faculty to coach and perform alongside current fellows at the invitation of Michael Tilson Thomas. A passionate educator, Mr. Kane has served as the double bass coach for the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra and currently serves as the double bass coach of the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra (PCYO) at the Tsinandali Festival in the country of Georgia in collaboration with Music Director Gianandrea Noseda. He is frequently invited to give masterclasses and lectures around the world at such esteemed institutions as The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, The Colburn School in Los Angeles, Amsterdam Conservatory, Beijing’s National Arts Center, Tel Aviv University, Jerusalem Music Center, The Mehli Mehta Music Fondation in Mumbai and the State University of Minas Gerias (Brazil), amongst others. Mr. Kane’s teachers have included Tim Cobb, Don Palma, Brian Liddle, Leigh Mesh and Jim Orleans. He holds degrees with honors from the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School.

Time Magazine has called her “Africa’s premier diva”, and named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2021. The BBC has included her in its list of the continent’s 50 most iconic figures, and in 2011 The Guardian listed her as one of their Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World. Forbes Magazine has ranked Angelique as the first woman in their list of the Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa. She is the recent recipient of the prestigious 2015 Crystal Award given by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the 2016 Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, the 2018 German Sustainability Award, the 2023 Vilcek Prize in Music, and the 2023 Polar Music Prize.

As a performer, her striking voice, stage presence and fluency in multiple cultures and languages have won respect from her peers and expanded her following across national borders. Kidjo has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America.

With a repertoire spanning from baroque to contemporary, including opera, Lied and oratorio, young Swedish mezzo-soprano Rebecka Wallroth is attracting increasing international attention.

Rebecka began the season at the National Theatre in Prague, portraying Idamante in Calixto Bieito’s new production of Idomeneo. From the 2025/26 season, she has joined the soloist ensemble at the Staatsoper Berlin, where her roles include Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Meg Page in Falstaff, and Carlotta in Die schweigsame Frau. In the summer of 2026, Rebecka will return to the Verbier Festival as Dorabella in their star-studded cast of Così fan tutte.

During the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, she was a member of the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden’s International Opera Studio, performing a wide range of roles, among them Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Mercedes in Carmen, Carlotta in Die schweigsame Frau, a Cretan Woman in Idomeneo, the Second Wood Nymph in Rusalka, Second Handmaiden of Dircé in Cherubini’s Medea, the Shepherdess and Elderly Woman in Jenůfa, and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro.

Rebecka made her debut at the Verbier Festival in 2024, performing Cherubino in a concert version of Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy. In recent years, she has performed with several major orchestras: the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust (Harding); the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène (Harding), their traditional Twelfth Night concerts (Rooke), and Christmas concerts; the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Sørensen’s St Matthew Passion (Morlot); and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Alma Mahler’s Seven Songs (Tjeknavorian). She has performed Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (Steffens) and made her debut at London’s Wigmore Hall with The Mozartists (Page), performing Arias for Rauzzini.

Rebecka Wallroth studied at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW), where her roles included Olga in Eugene Onegin, Idamante in Idomeneo, Unulfo in Händel’s Rodelinda, and Agnes in Die verkaufte Braut at Schlosstheater Schönbrunn. In 2023, she performed the role of Lilly in the world premiere of The Ghost Factory by Daniel Nelson at the Vadstena Academy in Sweden.

A bass-baritone from the Veneto region, he began studying opera singing under the guidance of the Lieder soprano Argit Butzke; he is currently specialising with the American teacher Sherman Lowe.

In 2013 he won the First Prize at the XVI Giovan Battista Velluti International Competition and the Absolute Popular Jury Award.

He is a finalist in the O.M.E.G.A. International Competition in Florence and the Iris Adami Corradetti Competition. He was third prize winner at the Magda Oliviero opera competition and at the “Franco Federici” competition in Parma. Again in Parma, the following year, he won Second Prize at the Rinaldo Pelizzoni International Opera Competition, as well as the Popular Jury’s Appreciation Prize.

In Treviso, he won First Prize in the ‘Giovani Musicisti’ International Competition and First Prize in the ‘Premio Contea’ Competition. He graduated from the Faculty of ‘Letters and Philosophy’ at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. In 2014, he won the ‘Concorso Comunità Europea’ in Spoleto – the youngest winner in recent years – and made his debut in the role of Schaunard in La bohème by G. Puccini. In the same year, he also won the ‘Premio Etta Limiti’ competition in Milan, where he also received the ‘Young Male Talent’ award.

In 2016, he won First Prize at the Concorso Internazionale di CantoLirico “Mauro Pagano” – Canneto sull’Oglio (MN) and the prestigious As.Li.Co competition for the role of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. In the A.A. 2016/2017 he was a full student at the Accademia di Alto Perfezionamento dell’Opera in Florence, under the direction of Maestro Gianni Tangucci.

In January 2018 he won the Mercedes Viñas Prize, at the Tenor Viñas competition in Barcelona and his recent and future engagements include: Acquagranda at the Teatro LaFenice, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Carlo and La Traviata at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Rigoletto at the Filarmonico in Verona and at the Petruzzelli in Bari, La Bohème in a Japanese tour of the Sperimentale in Spoleto and at the Regio in Turin, La fanciulla del West at the San Carlo, Edipo re (Leoncavallo) at the Verdi in Pisa, Le songe d’une nuit d’été at the Wexford Festival, Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Massimo in Palermo and at the Opéra in Paris, La Bohème in Turin and at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Carmen in Palermo, Macerata and as Escamillo in Valladolid, Ariadne auf Naxos in Bologna, La Cenerentola in Salerno, Don Giovanni at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Macerata, Naples and at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Rinaldo in Venice Le nozze di Figaro in Sydney, Moscow and the Komische Oper in Berlin, Così fan tutte on tour with the Kammermorchester Basel in Paris and Hamburg.

South African cellist Abel Selaocoe is redefining the parameters of the cello. He moves seamlessly across a plethora of genres and styles, from collaborations with world musicians and beatboxers, to concerto performances and solo classical recitals. Abel combines virtuosic performance with improvisation, singing and body percussion, and has a special interest in curating recital programmes that highlight the links between Western and non-Western musical traditions, with view to helping classical music reach a more diverse audience.

In 2016, Abel formed Chesaba – a trio specializing in music from the African continent, including many of his own compositions. He enjoys close collaborations with musicians from a medley of genres, including Bernhard Schimpelsberger, Tim Garland, Seckou Keita, Giovanni Sollima, Famoudou Don Moye and Gwilym Simcock. He has a close partnership with Manchester Collective, with whom he devised the hugely successful Sirocco programme which has been enjoyed both live and digitally by audiences since 2019. In 2020/21, Abel performed at Kings Place, Norfolk & Norwich and Ryedale Festivals, and performed with ensembles including BBC Concert Orchestra at the EFG London Jazz Festival, Manchester Collective and Britten Sinfonia.

Abel made his solo BBC Proms debut in August 2021, curating a programme with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Chesaba and Gnawa Ensemble. Other highlights of the 2021/22 season include a tour with Manchester Collective and Chesaba of their new collaboration, The Oracle; debuts with St Paul Chamber Orchestra and at Stanford Live; and performances both solo and with Chesaba throughout the UK and Europe.

Abel Selaocoe is an exclusive recording artist with Warner Classics and his debut album Where is Home? (Hae Ke Kae) on the subject of home and refuge will be released on Friday 23 September 2022.

Abel completed his International Artist Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music in July 2018. Alongside his numerous awards and recognition throughout the industry, in May 2021, Abel was announced as an inaugural Power Up Music Creator participant in PRS Foundation’s new initiative to address anti-Black racism and racial disparities in the music sector.

Timothy Ridout, a BBC New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellow, is one of the most sought-after violists of his generation. This season he appears as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Odense, San Jose symphony orchestras and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, amongst others. In 2020, Ridout won Hamburger Symphoniker’s inaugural Sir Jeffrey Tate Prize and joined the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center in 2021.

Other highlights this season include recitals and chamber concerts at Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Philharmonie Köln. Further afield, Ridout embarks on a South American tour with the Chamber Society of the Lincoln Centre, returns to Taipei for a series of concerts, and tours Australia with Musica Viva.

In recent seasons, Ridout has made his debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lille, Camerata Salzburg, Graz Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Hallé, BBC Symphony, Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra, and performed the Walton Concerto at the BBCProms/Sakari Oramo and with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich/David Zinman. He has also worked with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Lionel Bringuier, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Sylvain Cambreling, Nicholas Collon and Sir Andras Schiff.

Sought after as a chamber musician, Ridout has taken part in numerous festivals across Europe, including Rheingau, Bergen, Rosendal, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sion and Lockenhaus, and regularly collaborates with leading international artists including Janine Jansen, Steven Isserlis, Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Kian Soltani, Benjamin Grosvenor, Nicolas Altstaedt and Christian Tetzlaff, among many others.

Ridout records for the Harmonia Mundi label. His latest album – ‘A Poet’s Love’ –was recorded with pianist Frank Dupree and features selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and their own transcription of Schumann’s Dichterliebe. New releases include, amongst others, Berlioz Harold en Italie with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg/John Nelson on Warner/Erato, and Bloch Suite for Viola and Orchestra and Elgar Concerto with BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins.

Born in London in 1995, Ridout studied at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. He completed his Masters at the Kronberg Academy with Nobuko Imai in 2019 and, in 2018, took part in Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World.

He plays on a viola by Peregrino di Zanetto c.1565 – 75 on loan from a generous patron of Beare’s International Violin Society.

Jérémie Moreau, born in 1999, began playing the piano at the age of 7 with Françoise Ragon. He also studied ballet for 7 years, but eventually gave up this discipline to devote himself to music. At the same time, he entered Anne-Lise Gastaldi’s class at the CRR in Paris, where he was introduced to the contemporary piano repertoire by composers such as Guy Sacre and Yves Dufourt. He obtained his Prix de piano in June 2014 and entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in September 2015 in Denis Pascal’s class. After graduating in June 2018 with unanimous congratulations from the jury, he joined Andras Schiff’s class at the Saïd-Barenboïm Academy in Berlin.

He is regularly advised and guided by Bruno Rigutto, and takes part in masterclasses with Jean-François Heisser (Académie de Villecroze), Yves Henri (Festival Chopin à Nohant), Marie-Joseph Jude (Académie Ravel), Jean-Marc Luisada and Daniel Barenboïm. In 2007 he was unanimously awarded first prize at the UFAM competition, went on to win the Vatelot competition several times, won first prize at the Flame competition in 2011 and 2012, and won the Virtuoses du cœur competition in 2018. Jérémie performs regularly in recital and chamber music at the Festival Piano aux Jacobins, the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Auditorium de Radio France, the Festival de Saint-Denis, the Festival Lisztomanias, the Festival Chopin à Nohant and the Orangerie du Parc de Bagatelle.

In 2021, Jérémie was nominated in the Revelations category of the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards. For his first recording with Erato, he joins forces with his sister Raphaëlle Moreau, and his brothers Edgar and David Moreau, for a programme based on Dvorak and Korngold (“A Family Affair”, 2020).

Recognised by the international press as one of the great specialists in 18th-century keyboard music, Swiss-Italian pianist Olivier Cavé was a disciple of three piano legends; Maria Tipo, Aldo Ciccolini and Nelson Goerner.

In December 2015, the American magazine Forbes ranked his album “Chiaro e scuro: Haydn & Scarlatti” as the No. 1 classical album of 2015.

Olivier Cavé has built his career and his international reputation around a first-rate discography built up over many years.

He has surrounded himself with the greatest musicologists, recounting the history of his instrument, the piano. From Scarlatti to Bach, via Clementi, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, the international press praises each new album.

Olivier Cavé records exclusively for the Alpha label.

He performs in the most prestigious concert halls in Europe and the United States, in recital or with orchestra. Each of his appearances, from New York and Washington to San Francisco, via La Roque d’Anthéron and the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, is unanimously acclaimed.

Robin Fourmeau is one of the most dynamic and versatile percussionists of his generation. A member of the Sinfonieorchester Basel since 2017, he has carved out a career that spans the symphonic stage, chamber music, and cutting-edge contemporary work.

After studying at the Haute école de musique de Genève and the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Robin quickly joined some of Europe’s most prestigious ensembles, including the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, and the renowned Verbier Festival Orchestra, where he performed under the baton of leading conductors and alongside celebrated soloists. Today, he remains closely connected to the Verbier Festival as a coach for the Junior Orchestra, where he mentors and inspires the next generation of musicians.

An avid chamber musician with a passion for innovation, Robin co-founded the ensemble DeciBells, dedicated to pushing the boundaries of sound and exploring new creative possibilities. Through his work with LUNASON — a platform for artistic and technological research — he experiments with novel instruments and techniques, forging collaborations with acclaimed composers and premiering original works.

He is also a founding member of the trio Be One, an award-winning group that has garnered international acclaim at competitions such as the Swiss Chamber Music Competition and Jeunesses Musicales Suisse.

With his blend of technical mastery, rhythmic precision, and boundless curiosity, Robin Fourmeau is a distinctive voice on Europe’s contemporary music scene, equally at home in tradition and experimentation.