Clarinettist, conductor and Sony Classical recording artist, Martin Fröst is known for pushing musical boundaries and has been described by the New York Times as having “a virtuosity and a musicianship unsurpassed by any clarinettist — perhaps any instrumentalist — in my memory”. Widely recognised as an artist who constantly seeks new ways to challenge and reshape the classical music arena, his repertoire encompasses mainstream clarinet works, as well as a number of contemporary pieces that he has personally championed. Winner of the 2014 Léonie Sonning Music Prize, one of the world’s highest musical honours, Fröst was the first clarinettist to be given the award and joined a prestigious list of previous recipients including Igor Stravinsky and Sir Simon Rattle. International Classical Music Awards voted him their 2022 Artist of the Year Award for his innovative global career, his impressive discography, and his philanthropy.

Martin Fröst was the artist in residence of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for the 2023-24 season.

For more details, consult our concert archives.

Born in Geneva in 1958, Michael Jarrell studied composition at the Geneva Conservatory with Eric Gaudibert and at various workshops in the United States (Tanglewood, 1979). He completed his training with Klaus Huber at the Freiburg Staatliche Hochschule für Musik im Brisgau. Between 1986 and 1988, he was in residence at the Cité des Arts in Paris and took part in the computer music course at Ircam. He resided at the Villa Médicis in Rome during 1988-89, and then joined the Istituto Svizzero di Roma in 1989-90. From October 1991 to June 1993, he was composer in residence with the Orchestre de Lyon.

Michael Jarrell was named composer in residence of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for 2023-24 season.

For more details, consult our concert archives.

Renowned jazz pianist, Marc Perrenoud is the co-founder and artistic director of Geneva's Les Athénéennes festival. He forms a trio with Marco Mueller on double bass and Cyril Regamey on drums. Together, they have played over 500 concerts in more than 60 countries. He has also created and co-directs, with French trumpeter David Enhco and Albanian singer Elina Duni, a new quintet, Aksham, whose first album was released in February 2019 on the French label NOME. He teaches at the Haute école de musique in Geneva.

Artist in residence at the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for the 2022-23 season, Marc Perrenoud opens the season with Jonathan Nott for a classic-jazz concert with 'New World A-Comin', for piano and orchestra by Duke Ellington (available on our YouTube channel). In March, Marc Perrenoud played with a small ensemble of OSR's musicians for our Chamber Music series, with a concert-tribute to Chick Corea. The pianist has also brought some "swing" to the last Family Concert of the season with a performance of Samll Heel, his piano concerto given as a world premiere and commissioned by the OSR during his residency.

For more details, consult our concert archives.

Frank Peter Zimmermann is widely regarded as one of the foremost violinists of his generation. Praised for
his selfless musicality, his brilliance and keen intelligence. He has been performing with all major orchestras
in the world for well over three decades, collaborating on these occasions with the world's most renowned
conductors.

Artist in residence at the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for the 2021-22 season, Frank Peter Zimmermann played Bohuslav Martinů's radiant Suite Concertante for Violin and Orchestra in D major, H 276 II with Jonathan Nott at the beginning of the season. Then in January, Frank Peter Zimmermann performed Robert Schumann's Concerto for violin and orchestra in D minor, alongside Jonathan Nott. The two artists meet again for a final concert, closing the 2021-22 season with Johannes Brahms' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major op. 77.

For more details, please see our concert archive on the French version of the site.

Despite the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have had the pleasure of hearing the talented Francesco Piemontesi throughout the 2020-21 season. In addition to his residency at the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, he was also invited to the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Symphony with Lahav Shani, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, as well as many American orchestras.

Piemontesi opened the first ever OSR Festival at Genève-Plage with Jonathan Nott in a performance of Ravel's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G major. The two artists then joined forces for a streaming performance of Olivier Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques and a second performance of Ravel's Piano Concerto. Finally, Arnold Schoenberg's Piano Concerto is added to these two works, which will be the subject of a Pentatone recording to be released in 2022.

Francesco Piemontesi has also performed with conductors Daniel Harding and Manfred Honeck. For more details, please see our concert archive on the French version of the site.

The OSR's first composer in residence: Season 2019-20

Yann Robin is one of those rare contemporary composers who seems to conceive their creation (however intense, demanding, enigmatic it may be) as a privileged occasion to communicate with the public. After having already completed a three-year residency with the Orchestre National de Lille, he was hosted by the OSR for the 2019-20 season, creating the opportunity for the public to join him in discovering works charged with telluric energy and a profound sonorous poetry.

As the OSR's first composer-in-residence, Yann Robin delivered two of his works during the season, before arrival of the global COVID-19 pandemic. He seeks to push the limits of technique to create new sonorities, inducing new sensations in the listener.

Works by Yann Robin performed by the OSR :

Quarks, for cello and large orchestra (Swiss creation)

Vertigo, for solo double bass