Concert honouring Betsy Jolas & Gisèle Barreau

In 2004, she won the First Prize at the Rome International Music Tournament; in 2006, she took Second Prize at the Maria Canals International Music Competition in Barcelona; then, in 2007, she was awarded Second Prize at the international Olivier Messiaen Competition in Paris. In 2009, she also won the International Award from Pro Musicis, a non-profit organisation that provides opportunities to enjoy classical music concerts to audiences that might not otherwise have that privilege. Ms Vermeulin, with support from several foundations (Safran Corporate Foundation for Music, Mécénat Musical Société Générale, and others) and the Institut Français for tours abroad, took little time in establishing a reputation for a playing style of technical temerity, maturity and great timbric finesse. In November 2014, her entire career was honoured by the Académie des Beaux-Arts and the Prix d’Intérpretation from the Fondation Simone et Cino Del Duca of the Institut de France.

​Ms Vermeulin is invited to many festivals and prestigious venues, such as the Opéra de Paris, the Philharmonie, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Scala-Paris, the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, the Opéra de Limoges, the Opéra de Saint-Etienne, the Salle Molière in Lyon, the Centre Pompidou-Metz, Nouveau Siècle in Lille, several national theatres (Tarbes, Cherbourg, Arras, Evry, Besançon, Châteauroux), as well as the festivals Musica in Strasbourg, Messiaen au Pays de la Meije, Piano Folies, Nohant Chopin festival, Lisztomanias, Chambord, Lille Pianos Festival, and many more.

​Outside of France, Ms Vermeulin performs in Spain – in Madrid (Circulo de Bellas Artes/Teatro Real), as the guest of Gérard Mortier, but also in Barcelona (Palau de la Musica) – as well as in Italy (Monopoli and Bari festivals), Germany (Munich’s Kulturkreis Gasteig), China, Turkey, Lithuania, Algeria, Moldavia, Montenegro, Lebanon, South-east Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines), United States (French Consulate in New York City) and the United Kingdom (London’s Wigmore Hall).

Ms Vermeulin has performed great works with great orchestras, such as Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques with the Ensemble Intercontemporain (conductor Pierre Boulez), Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon (conductor Debora Waldman), Mozart’s Concerto K453 with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie (conductor Sir Paul Goodwin), Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with the Orchestre Symphonique de Mâcon (conductor Eric Geneste), and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor Walid Moussallem). In 2019, she performed alongside the Orchestre Victor Hugo Franche Comté and the Orchestre Lamoureux.

She is passionate about contemporary music and works closely with current composers such as Tristan Murail, François Meïmoun, Thierry Pécou, Alain Louvier, George Benjamin, François-Bernard Mâche, Marco Stroppa, Jérôme Combier and Pierre Boulez.

In 2008, Universal/Deutsche Grammophon asked Ms Vermeulin to take part in its complete Messiaen release. In 2013, her first solo disc appeared to great acclaim: dedicated to Olivier Messiaen, this CD (on the Paraty label) received an ffff rating from Télérama (Gilles Macassar). Ms Vermeulin’s disc, released in 2016 and devoted to Debussy (Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo label), was also unanimously praised by the specialised press (Pianiste, Diapason, Resmusica, four stars from Classica, etc.). Her latest CD devoted to Clara and Robert Schumann (Paraty label) was released in the spring of 2019, and received the Classicnews “clic”, as well as five stars from rbb Kultur in Germany.  

Having received an early musical education in piano, composition and organ at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Mr Neuburger honed his skills in composition in Geneva with Michael Jarrell. He was awarded the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Prize by the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2010, and the Hervé Dugardin Prize of the Sacem in 2015.

He performs as a soloist with the most prestigious orchestras: the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, and with conductors Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jonathan Nott, Osma Vanska, Ingo Metzmacher, Kazuki Yamada and Pierre Boulez, with whom he collaborated closely on the composer’s Piano Sonata No. 2.

Recent career highlights include a tour of Asia with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Jonathan Nott, the premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 1 by the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and Jonathan Stockhammer in 2018; concerts with the Cologne Gürzernich Orchestra conducted by François-Xavier Roth, recitals for the opening of La Scala in Paris and concerts at the Berliner Philharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris and at the Lucerne Festival in a programme featuring works by Rihm and Schumann under the auspices of the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Mr Neuburger devotes a significant part of his musical activity to contemporary music and has played the world premieres of piano pieces written by Bruno Mantovani, Phillip Maintz, Yves Chauris and Vito Zuraj, as well as Echo-Daimonon, the concerto for piano and electronics by Philippe Manoury. 

As a composer, his works include Aube, commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi and later performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris, his Piano Concerto No. 1, which he premiered with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Jonathan Stockhammer in 2018, more cently Faits et gestes commissioned by and premiered with François-Xavier Roth and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, as well as a number of chamber music compositions.

His extensive discography on the Mirare label reflects his eclectic and varied repertoire – Ravel, Bach, Brahms, Liszt, Debussy, Neuburger, Hérold, Barraqué, Messiaen – and has received great acclaim from the French and international press. His works are published by Durand.

Ms Serafimova has given recital and masterclasses in Europe, Central and North America and Asia. In April 2014, she made her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York. A year later, in a duo with jazz pianist Thomas Enhco, she performed the marimba for the first time at France’s Victoires de la Musique Classique. In 2016, the duo recorded their first album, Funambules, for Deutsche Grammophon. In 2021,  again as a duo, Thomas Enhco and Vassilena Serafimova recorded their second album, Bach Mirror, with Sony Classics, a work that was hailed by both the public and the press.

Ms Serafimova performs as a soloist and chamber musician in many festivals: Les Flâneries Musicales de Reims, Classique au Vert (France), Middelheim Jazz Festival (Belgium), REpercusionES (Costa Rica), Focus! 2011 Festival (United States), and TransART (Bulgaria) and has taken part in recordings for Radio France, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Bulgarian National Radio. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall (New York), Théâtre de Champs Elysées, Théâtre de Châtelet, Salle Pleyel (Paris), Hermitage Theater (Saint-Peterburg), Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam and Eindhoven), Herkulessaal (Munich), Bulgaria Music Hall (Sofia). As Artistic Director of the International Festival of Marimba and Percussions of Bulgaria and Co-Director of the Paris Percussion Group (with Jean-Baptiste Leclère), she is committed to defending the percussion repertoire worldwide.

In 2017, Ms Serafimova and renowned French electronic music producer Chloé were invited form a duo and create a tribute to Steve Reich for the music series Variations. A few months later that same year, the two musicans set off to explore a new repertoire at Xavier Veilhan’s Studio Venezia. Since then, the two artists, performing as a duo, have developed their own musical vocabulary and perform their show Sequenza LIVE across the globe. Their self-titled album was released in 2021 by Lumière Noire. Ms Serafimova represents Adams Musical Instruments, the Avedis Zildjian Company[T1]  and has created her own line of drumsticks bearing her name at Vibrawell Mallets.

Ms Serafimova holds a Master’s degree in education from the CNSMDP and teaches at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne. She has also been a guest instructor at the Conservatoire National Régional de Saint-Maur-des-Fossées since 2022. She plays Adams Alpha Series Marimbas using Vibrawell mallets.  [T1]Nous avons corrigé la coquille

In 2012, he swept the awards at the 67th Geneva Competition, winning first prize, the Coup de Coeur Breguet prize, the Audience prize, the Young Audience prize and the Air France KLM prize. The Coup de Coeur prize gave him the opportunity to record his first CD, which appeared on the Nascor label in November 2012, a superb first release centred on works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Scriabine.

This recording, awarded an ffff rating by Télérama, was also praised by France Musique radio and Diapason and Pianiste magazines. “…well beyond technical perfection, Lorenzo Soulès’ piano performance exudes a nobility of emotions and a plenitude in the twilit environs of the soul, a mastery of restrained demonic impulses, which his recital’s programme showcases so effectively.”

A guest artist at many festivals – Festival Messiaen au Pays de la Meije, Aldeburgh Music Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Festival du Périgord Noir, Verso Traiettorie – he collaborates with such greats artists as conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Hermès Quartet and the Armida Quartet. He has performed in prestigious venues such as Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Tonhalle in Zürich, the Royal Festival Hall in London and the National Concert Hall in Taipei.

With grant support from the Tarazi Foundation and the Meyer Foundation, she studied with Juanjo Guillem (Spain), Lee-Howard Stevens (United States), Kevin Hathway (United Kingdom), Silvio Gualda, Michel Gastaud, Francis Brana, Eric Sammut, Michel Cerutti, Florent Jodelet and Frédéric Stochl (France). She was a percussionist with the Ensemble Nacional de España de Música Contemporánea and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez.

She collaborates with the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid.

As a soloist she has given many concerts in Spain, France and the United Kingdom (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Festival Tres Cantos de Madrid, Universidad de Murcia, Victor Villegas Auditorium in Murcia, Badajoz Auditorium, Collège d’Espagne, Cité de la Musique, Maison de Radio France in Paris, Royal College in London, and many others). In 2006, she won the performance prize from the Colegio de España in Paris.

In May 2007, her CD Entre Libra y Escorpio, featuring contemporary music dedicated to solo percussion, was released, financed by Spain’s National Institute of Performing Arts and Music.
She also collaborated on the recording of Don Quixote by Cristóbal Halffter with the Orquesta Sinfonica De Madrid, Credo in Cage and Todas las Caras de la Percusión with the Neopercusión Ensemble and the CD Bypass21with guitarist Bertrand Chavarría.

At the same time, she works in contemporary creation as a percussionist in the Face à Face quartet and regularly collaborates with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Ensemble Ars Nova, the Ensemble L’Itinéraire, the Ensemble Multilatérale and the Ensemble Zellig. In 2014, she joined the Ensemble Musica Universalis.

Now a professor of artistic education, Ms Humanes was professor of percussion at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional (CRR) in Grenoble in 2005-2006 and at the CRI in Drancy from 2006 to 2012. She is currently a professor at the CRD in Issy-Les-Moulineaux.

In chamber music, she plays in various formations at many festivals and prestigious venues: Amati, Amadeus, Dubrovnik, Leipzig, Prades, Pro Quartett, Puerto Rico, Les Arcs, Musée d’Orsay, L’Hôtel des Invalides, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Victoria Hall in Geneva, Tonhalle in Zurich, Philharmonie in Warsaw, Rodolphinum in Prague, Folles Journées de Nantes and Tokyo.

Ms Lethiec has been a member of the Hoboken Trio since its founding in 2003; they perform at many festivals such as Colmar, Flâneries Musicales de Reims, L’Orangerie de Sceaux, Girona, Guadalajara. Since 2016, Ms Lethiec and Jérôme Granjon have presented a classical programme with pianoforte ranging from J.C. Bach and C.P.E. Bach to Schubert, Mozart and Beethoven.

That same year, she founded the Quatuor Lugha with Michel Pozmanter, Raphaelle Semezis and Maximilien Porché. She is actively involved in the dissemination of contemporary music. With François Salque, she founded the Festival Musique d’Un Siècle which mainly features works from the 20th and 21st centuries. She is a professor at the CRR of Versailles.

His vast repertoire has led him to perform on stages around the world as both a soloist and a chamber musician, with partners such as Michael Levinas, Nicolas Angelich, the Quatuor Voce and Wilhelm Latchoumia. Sir Simon Rattle invited him to the Berlin Philharmonic in May 2015 for the German premiere of Betsy Jolas’ Ruht Wohl. Mr Camatte is solo viola in several ensembles: Court-Circuit (since 2015), Proton Bern (2013), Multilatérale (2005).

His dual profile as a violist and analyst is of particular interest to composers with whom he is developing or has developed a close collaboration: Betsy Jolas – with whom he created Ruht Wohl (the piece is dedicated to Mr Camatte), Well Met, Sur Do and Femme en son jardin –, György Kurtág (Hommage à Schumann), Pascal Dusapin (Inside), Martin Matalon (Traces II for viola and electronics), Michael Lévinas (Lettres enlacées for solo viola), Philippe Schoeller (Visions de Nefertiti I et II), and others. Several also compose specifically for him: Betsy Jolas, Michael Levinas, Samuel Andreyev, Gilles Schuehmacher, Frédérik Martin (viola concerto), Alberto Caprioli (whose viola concerto he premiered), Robert Coinel (concerto) and Jacques Lenot, who dedicated five works to him: November Elegy, for solo viola and string orchestra, Répliques for solo viola, Erinnern als Abwesenheit III for viola and large ensemble, Abrupts jeux d’ailes for viola and string orchestra and Néfertiti auprès et au loin… for solo viola.

He also was the winner of the Prix du Conseil d’Administration (Board of Directors’ Prize) from the Fondation Prince Louis de Polignac (2016), the Edmund Pendleton International Prize (2003), as well as the Jean Françaix (1998) and Epernay (1996) international viola competitions.

He has been awarded two Grands Prix for his recordings by the Charles Cros Academy in 2011 and 2012, with some of his main releases being “Moving” by Samuel Andreyev (Klarthe 2016); “B for Betsy” (works for viola by Betsy Jolas – Hortus 2012); “Chiaroscuro” (

Erinnern als Abwesenheit III by Jacques Lenot -Intrada 2011); “Vulcano” by Yann Robin (Ensemble Intercontemporain, S. Mälki, Kairos 2010) ; “Trio à cordes” and “Quintette avec Clarinette” by Betsy Jolas (Accord 2006); “Troisième Round” and “Turbulences” by Bruno Mantovani (Aeon 2003).

After studying under Marcel Bardon at the CNR in Paris, Christophe Beau won a gold medal (1985), a first prize for cello excellence (1986) and a first prize for virtuosity (1987). In 1988, he entered the C.N.S.M. in Lyon studying with Yvan Chiffoleau, where he was awarded a first prize in cello. Having been selected by the European Mozart Foundation, he went to Prague in 1993 to continue with chamber music master classes. He performed on Radio France’s “Les Mardis de la Musique de Chambre“ with the De Nos Jours ensemble. Since 1992, Christophe Beau has been a member of the Virtuosos de France. For 13 years starting in 1994, he was Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Festival Musiques en Ecrins. He was in residency at the Abbaye de la Prée from 1995 to 1998, where he took part in the Rencontres Musicales. Since 2000, he has performed annually in Japan with artists such as the Quatuor Ravel. Since 2005, he has travelled Europe, Asia and the Americas with the ensembles of which he is a permanent member, Accroche Note and the Ensemble Hélios.

She earned her teaching diploma for flute in 1984 and, in 1990, was appointed full professor at the Conservatoire National de Région de Versailles. She led an educational workshop there for 15 years and is now in charge of contemporary chamber music for undergraduate students. She also gives masterclasses in France and abroad (Mexico, Poland, Russia, Spain, Germany).

Since 1988, she has been principal flute in the Orchestre Lamoureux. Being an ardent chamber musician, she founded the Ensemble Hélios with her partners Christophe Beau, Nathanaëlle Marie and Isabelle Lequien and regularly performs in a flute-harp duet in France and abroad.