A Franco-Swiss saxophonist, Valentine Michaud has made a name for herself as a leading figure for her chosen instrument on the international stage. A multi-award winner, in 2020, she received the prestigious Credit Suisse Young Artist Award. The first saxophonist to perform as a soloist with the Wiener Philharmoniker, Valentine Michaud made her orchestral debut under Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Lucerne Festival in 2022. She is regularly invited to play as a soloist by renowned orchestras such as the Philharmonie Zuidnederland, MDR-Sinfonieorchester, United States Navy Band, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, St. Petersburg State Academic Cappella, and DR SymfoniOrkestret. During the 2024-25 season, she was the soloist in residence with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for more than 25 concerts, as well as making her debut under Daniel Harding with the Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester for the premiere of Jesper Nordin’s concerto, with Emmanuel Michaud as visual soloist. Working regularly with composers to expand the saxophone repertoire, Valentine Michaud also created the saxophone concerto for Théo Schmitt in 2025, and another for Christoph Croisé in 2026.

With a firm belief in the richness of collaborating with other art forms and keen to develop innovative concert formats, Valentine Michaud is co-founder of the transdisciplinary SIBJA collective, winner of the Nico Kaufmann Prize. Within the collective, she shares artistic direction with her brother Emmanuel Michaud, alongside designing the collective's costumes. A passionate chamber musician and advocate for contemporary creativity, she has performed with pianist Akvilė Šileikaitė since 2015, jointly releasing the album Beyond the Wall in 2023, and with her brother Gabriel Michaud on percussion since 2022, with whom she released Oiseaux de Paradis in 2024 to great critical acclaim. Upcoming releases in 2026 are Paris Ville Lumière with Gabriel Michaud and Sirènes with Akvilė Šileikaitė.

Valentine Michaud is a graduate from HEMU Lausanne, the Sorbonne University in Paris, and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), and has taught at the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique de Genève since 2017. Since September 2024, she has been a Visiting Professor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.