Academies

Promoting young talent at the Basel Chamber Orchestra

Detail picture: A horn player is standing by with his two instruments.

The promotion of young professional musicians is an important concern for the Basel Chamber Orchestra and has therefore been a focal point for several years. We therefore pay particular attention to the training of young musicians, in cooperation with and as a sensible complement to what is offered by the Hochschule für Musik Basel FHNW.

In the three academies of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, young musicians learn about everyday life as a professional musician. They work with personal mentors in small workshops and are part of the Basel Chamber Orchestra at subscription concerts or on tour.

Orchestra Academy

Since the 2018/19 season, four young musicians have been selected to participate in the professional orchestra for one season. The excellently trained academy students are fully integrated into the orchestra's everyday life, they are introduced to the playing practice of the Basel Chamber Orchestra in workshops, such as the historically informed style of playing, and are then allowed to participate in concert projects in Basel and on tour.

Up to four orchestra academy members of the Basel Music Academy with the instruments violin, viola and violoncello are accompanied by a personal mentor from the orchestra during the one-year training.

Die Academists 2023/24

Laura Morales Rejas, Violin
Lena Segal, Violin
Elise Hiron, Viola
Laura Sofia Brandão Álvares, Violoncello

  • Three violinists play a concert
  • Two violists play a concert
  • A string octet plays a concert under parasols, with the Rhein in the background
  • Group photo of the Kammerorchester Basel academy students with their mentors

The Academists 2022/23

Leo Appel, Violin
Arabela De Miguel Robledo, Violin
Jaume Angeles Fite, Viola
James Morley, Violoncello

  • Group photo of four academists
  • Academists backstage warming up
  • Academists backstage
  • Portrait academist at the rehearsal
  • Academists in the orchestra
  • Portrait academist

The Academists 2021/22

Laia Azcona Morist, Violin
Sofia De Falco, Violin
Alberico Guissani, Viola
Miquel Garcia Ramon, Violoncello

  • Group photo academists
  • Academists in conversation
  • Strings at rehearsal
  • Portrait academist
  • Portrait violinist
  • Portrait musician explaining something
  • Cellist making notes in his sheet music
  • Portrait academist

The Academists 2020/21

Rintaro Yano, Violin
Patricia Muro Francia , Violin
Charlotte Lefebre , Viola
Blai Bosser Toca, Violoncello

  • Portrait musicians at rehearsal
  • Strings at rehearsal
  • Group photo academists
  • Cellists at the rehearsal
  • Portrait violinist
  • Portrait academists at the rehearsal
  • Strings at rehearsal

The Academists 2019/20

Dmitry Smirnov, Violin
Haruna Mikumo, Violin
Olivier Carillier, Viola
Alma Hernan, Violoncello

  • Musicians in a discussion
  • Portrait musician
  • Portrait violinist
  • Rehearsal string quartet
  • Portrait Academists
  • Violinist and cellist during rehearsal
  • Portrait Daniel Bard (violinist) at the rehearsal

The Academists 2018/19

Rita Nakad, Violin
Meret Pellaton, Violin
Patricia Torres, Viola
Giulio Sanna, Violoncello

  • Musicians in conversation
  • Portrait violinists
  • Violinists at the rehearsal
  • Cellists at the rehearsal
  • Portrait violinist
  • Musician taking photos
  • Cellists rehearsing
  • Rehearsal at the Elbphilharmonie

Conducting Academy

Johannes Schlaefli from Basel, a world-renowned conducting teacher and professor of orchestral conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts, has been conducting his training courses with the Basel Chamber Orchestra since 2022. Many young conductors hope for a place in his well-attended Conducting Academy.
The first workshops took place in October 2022, with Andreas Ottensamer, who has already played as solo clarinettist with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, and Izabele Jankauskaite, who received the "Neeme-Järvi-Prieses" in Gstaad and is assistant to the principal conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.

The next edition of the Conducting Academy Masterclass will take place from 5 - 7 March 2024 at Don Bosco Basel.

Impressions of the Masterclass in autumn 2022

An overview of the workshops

18. to 20.11.24
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Divertimento F-Dur KV 138 (125c)      
Béla Bartók: Divertimento für Streichorchester      
Leoš Janáček: Suite für Streichorchester (1877)      
Antonín Dvorák: Serenade für Streicher in E-Dur op. 22      
Gustav Mahler: Adagietto aus der 5. Sinfonie 

04. to 07.03.24
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 for chamber orchestra, arranged by Ian Farrington
W. A. Mozart: Symphony No. 36 in C major "Linz Symphony"
J. Haydn: Symphony No. 90 in C major

Details

06. to 08.10.23
Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring (Version for 13 Instruments)
Claude Debussy: Afternoon of a faune (Ensemble-Version, I. Farrington)
Maurice Ravel: Mother goose-suite (Ensemble-Version, I. Farrington)

Details

23. to 26.02.23
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 85 in B flat major "La Reine"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 33 in B flat major; Symphony No. 40 in G minor
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 5 in B flat major
Richard Wagner: Siegfried Idyll; Tristan Prelude
Igor Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks

28. to 31.10.22
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in the arrangement for chamber ensemble by Klaus Simon

Details
  • Conductor in conversation with young conductor ( academist)
  • Portrait young conductor
  • young conductors studying their score
  • young conductor leads the orchestra
  • young conductor leads the orchestra
  • Johannes Schlaefli in conversation

Werkstatt Kammerorchester Basel

In the 2024/25 season, a workshop concert will take place for the third time.

Selected students of the Musik-Akademie, Hochschule für Musik FHNW, are invited to a project without conductor:in. The chamber music approach of the Basel Chamber Orchestra is the main focus of the programme. Strings will be selected, reinforced by wind players from the Basel Chamber Orchestra. Historically informed music will be played on bare gut strings and appropriate bow material in the chamber pitch of 430 Hz.

  • Young man dressed in black speaks. In the background the orchestra.
  • Two musicians holding a violin in their hands and playing it.
  • Two violists of the orchestra in the foreground. In the background: some members of the orchestra.
  • In focus: bass player and bassist playing together. Blurred in the foreground: Orchestra musicians:inside
  • Two people dressed in black are talking. In their hands they each hold a horn.
  • Four people in concert dress are talking. In hand: violin and bow.
  • Detail of the orchestra lineup. In focus: violinist with smile on her face.
  • Photo of the entire orchestra on and in front of the stage in the concert hall.
  • A member of the orchestra stands in front of the orchestra with the cello in his hand. He speaks to the audience.

We thank our supporters

  • Maja Sacher Stiftung
  • Irma Merk Stiftung
  • Kurt Redel Stiftung
Logo Basel Chamber Orchestra Foundation

Contact

Contact person for the Academies of the Basel Chamber Orchestra:

Eva Miribung
eva.miribung@kammerorchesterbasel.ch

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