Olivier Darbellay
- Horn
Olivier Darbellay was born in Berne in 1974 and started his musical studies at the Berne Conservatory in the cello class of Patrick Demenga and Peter Hörr and in the horn class with Thomas Müller and David Johnson as his teachers. He completed his studies with Bruno Schneider in Freiburg and for the natural horn with Th. Müller in Basel at the “Schola Cantorum Basiliensis”.
Since he won in 1999 the music competition of the “Communauté des Radios publiques de langue françaises” as “Soliste de l’année 2000” and his first prize in 2000 at the competition of the “Tribune des jeunes interprètes” in Lissabon he is invited to the most prestigious halls and festivals. As soloist he performed with orchestras like the Moscow Symphony, the Moscow State Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa, the Radio Chamber Orchestra Bucharest, the Tokio Sinfonietta, the Südwes deutsche Philharmonie, the chamber orchestras of Basel and Zurich, the Symphony Orchestras of Berne and Biel, Philharmonia Zurich and the Camerata Bern.
Great importance takes his intensive activity as a chamber musician with various ensembles and partners like Joshua Bell, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Erich Höbarth, Heinz Holliger, François Leuleux, Christian Zacharias, Konstantin Lifschitz, Patrick and Thomas Demenga, Sol Gabetta, Christoph Prégardien and Mark Padmore.
Invitations to several festivals like the Lucerne Festival, Berliner Festwochen, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Verbier Festival, Présence Paris, Montpellier, Wratislawia, Rheingau Festival, Grafenegg, Davos, Ittingen, Murten, Meiringen, Boswiler Sommer, the Barossa and Oxford Chamber Music festivals and to IGNM Hong Kong.
An important part of his activities is also focused on the contemporary repertory as well as a member of the Collegium Novum Zurich and the Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva) he took part in many world premieres. Several pieces were dedicated to him, 2006 world premiere of Holliger’s “Induuchlen”-Duo at the Lucerne Festival. In addition, he is regularly invited to play and record on the historical baroque and classical natural horn with groups like the “Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra”, the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Bach Collegium Japan.
He plays currently Principal Horn with the Berne Simphony Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. Since 2001 he is professor at the Conservatoire de Lausanne and holds the same position at the Musikhochschule Lucerne since 2010. He is regularly invited as a guest professor to hold workshops and masterclasses throughout Europe, Russia and Asia.
Since he won in 1999 the music competition of the “Communauté des Radios publiques de langue françaises” as “Soliste de l’année 2000” and his first prize in 2000 at the competition of the “Tribune des jeunes interprètes” in Lissabon he is invited to the most prestigious halls and festivals. As soloist he performed with orchestras like the Moscow Symphony, the Moscow State Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa, the Radio Chamber Orchestra Bucharest, the Tokio Sinfonietta, the Südwes deutsche Philharmonie, the chamber orchestras of Basel and Zurich, the Symphony Orchestras of Berne and Biel, Philharmonia Zurich and the Camerata Bern.
Great importance takes his intensive activity as a chamber musician with various ensembles and partners like Joshua Bell, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Erich Höbarth, Heinz Holliger, François Leuleux, Christian Zacharias, Konstantin Lifschitz, Patrick and Thomas Demenga, Sol Gabetta, Christoph Prégardien and Mark Padmore.
Invitations to several festivals like the Lucerne Festival, Berliner Festwochen, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Verbier Festival, Présence Paris, Montpellier, Wratislawia, Rheingau Festival, Grafenegg, Davos, Ittingen, Murten, Meiringen, Boswiler Sommer, the Barossa and Oxford Chamber Music festivals and to IGNM Hong Kong.
An important part of his activities is also focused on the contemporary repertory as well as a member of the Collegium Novum Zurich and the Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva) he took part in many world premieres. Several pieces were dedicated to him, 2006 world premiere of Holliger’s “Induuchlen”-Duo at the Lucerne Festival. In addition, he is regularly invited to play and record on the historical baroque and classical natural horn with groups like the “Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra”, the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Bach Collegium Japan.
He plays currently Principal Horn with the Berne Simphony Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. Since 2001 he is professor at the Conservatoire de Lausanne and holds the same position at the Musikhochschule Lucerne since 2010. He is regularly invited as a guest professor to hold workshops and masterclasses throughout Europe, Russia and Asia.
