Started in 2016, a small clarinet summer camp developed into a large international music festival, inviting artists from all over the world. On the Soloist Academy wall of fame we can see such names as Kazuki Yamada, Natalia Gutman, Jonathan Nott, Jacques Zoon, Itamar Golan, Karl Leister Jean-Jacques Balet and many more.
Soloist Academy, an intensive annual workshop in July, conceived by internationally renowned soloists and musicians from L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande motivated by the desire to share their art with young professionals, not only to develop technical and musical mastery, but also to cultivate reflection on the chamber music repertoire and the musical vocation.
We like to interact with our guests as much as we can. The audience always stays active through direct interaction with the artists, playing lottery, interviewing musicians and awarding prizes.
At Soloist Academy every participant is treated with the same respect. Famous artists, students, pupils, and, of course the audience – every one finds his or her equal place in the festival.
Perhaps for the first time in music history, students come not only to learn from the professors, but to teach them… In a concert hall! Artists as young as seven years old perform concerts just like the Pros.
In this unique and original project, students are invited to prepare lists of “standards”, i.e. the most well-known chamber music works for their instrument. The programme chosen is announced the morning of the concert and each participant can discover their partners in a public performance without prior preparation or rehearsal – a daunting feat requiring audacity and steady nerves which allows players to validate their mastery of the repertoire and share it with a benevolent, yet demanding, audience.
Soloist Academy has been known for its courageous experimental spirit. It all started with Jam sessions, inheriting the improvising tradition from jazz culture. Then came a close work with dancers that inspire us with their choreographies and improvisations: classical and modern ballet, hip-hop, breakdance and others.
On top of it we mix genres that are situated wide apart: jazz, classical and contemporary music, hip-hop, literature and painting. Why? That is the way to open up to the vast world of Art and invite the audience to dance with us to the music of Beethoven and Miles Davis, Debussy and Carl Cox.
