IMMINENT DUO

Hortense Airault is a curious and creative young artist whose career combines the classical repertoire with a specialization in contemporary music, improvisation and composition.

Born in 1999 in Paris, she spent her childhood in the Comoros Islands in Mayotte, where she discovered the cello. She then entered the CRR in Paris in the class of Thomas Duran then at the HEM in Geneva in the class of Ophélie Gaillard. In June 2024, she completed her Master Concert option Composer-Performer in the class of Ophélie Gaillard and Joshua Hyde and is currently continuing her studies at the HKB in Berne in a Master of Creative Practice Composition.

 

Hortense stands out in contemporary creation: she performs solo and participates in the creation of various pieces and collaborates with ensembles such as ONCEIM, the Ulysse ensemble at the ManiFeste festival, the Nomos cello ensemble, the Fanfare du Loup, the Fosse opera house at the Pompidou center. She also participates in academies such as the Stauffer Academy in Cremona and the Ulysse 2024 academy in collaboration with members of the Intercontemporain ensemble.

 

Thanks to her meeting with Joëlle Léandre, she became passionate about improvisation: she is a member of the Duo Imminent, of the Free Spirit Ensemble (improvisation ensemble directed by Ibrahim Maalouf), performs with the Fanfare du Loup and Vincent le Quang around of the practice of soundpainting, participates in the Villecroze Academy with Vincent Ségal and Vincent Peirani, as well as in the “Ateliers du Violoncelle” (Vincent Courtois, Noémie Boutin and Éric-Maria Couturier).

 

Also a composer, she studied with Luis Naón, Joshua Hyde and Arturo Corrales, and received commissions for the Contrechamps ensemble, the MOMO quartet, the Ateliers du Violoncelle 2024. Her pieces L'Une e(s)t l'Autre and Corps Accords are published by 22D Music. She also improvises and composes with the MPTA circus company.

 

Passionate about string quartets, she studies with the Voce quartet, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Noémie Bialobroda and participates in the Musical Chairs festival in Canada. Currently in CAS string quartet training in the class of the Voce quartet and the Belcea quartet, she creates projects with her MOMO quartet dedicated to the exploration of different musical styles and artistic practices.

 

Hortense also multiplies orchestral experiences and plays under the baton of conductors such as Gábor Takács-Nagy, Pierre Bleuse, Francois-Xavier Roth, Clement Power for the contemporary OpéraLab project, Riccardo Castro (with whom she participates in 2023 in the NEOJIBA project in Brazil ).

Young saxophonist, singer and composer from Valencia (Spain).  A multidisciplinary artist who is always motivated to learn new things and explore new artistic territories, in September 2023 she began the Master’s degree in singing with the Composer-Performer option with Stephan MacLeod (singing) and Gilbert Nouno (composition) at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, where in June 2023 she completed the Master’s degree in saxophone with the Contemporary Music option with Joshua Hyde. In 2021, she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in classical and contemporary saxophone performance at the ESMUC (Barcelona) with Nacho Gascón, where she also studied with clarinettist Lorenzo Coppola. 

Ana also obtained a Diploma in Fine Arts from the Universitat Politècnica de València in 2017.

 

As for her work as a composer, in February 2022 she premiered her first piece for soprano saxophone and tape, entitled Escena I, at the TRACES concert in Geneva. In June 2023, she premiered her cycle Casa, for saxophone, voice and electronics, and in May 2024, she premiered Aire and Ruido interno for voice and electronics. She has recently received a commission to compose two pieces for the Geneva Cathedral Choir to be premiered in October 2024 in Tunis.

 

Following various musical encounters, Ana has formed several chamber music groups. She is a founding member of the Amapola Quartet, winner of the ORPHEUS Swiss Chamber Music Competition 2022; the Las Delícias Ensemble, devoted to baroque vocal music; and the Duo Imminent.

 

In March 2022, she was one of five artists selected by the ACIMC to give a concert in Barcelona. In June 2019, she took part in the premiere of Luis Tabuenca’s opera Hor at the Forum Wallis in Switzerland.

 

As a saxophonist she has recently been invited to play at the Verbier Festival 2024 with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (VFCO) and the Verbier Festival Orchestra (VFO). She has also collaborated with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OBC) the Geneva Camerata, the Banda Municipal de Barcelona and the BCN216 Ensemble. 

 

As a singer, she recently took part in the production of María de Buenos Aires at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in October-November 2023. She has also won a solo role performing Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien in March 2024 at Geneva’s Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, and in a concert on the music of Johannes Ciconia conducted by Pedro Memelsdorff in April 2024.

 

She also has extensive choral training and has been a member of the Orfeó Català for several years. As a chorister, she has performed with Sir Simon Rattle, the LSO, John Adams, Bryn Terfel, Serena Sáenz, François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles.

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