Early music department

The department focuses on historically informed performance, based on the results of research. It also offers initiation courses and complete courses for students from the HEM’s orchestral instruments department and the keyboard instruments department.

Today’s graduates in Early Music must not only be excellent performers, but also researchers, creative entrepreneurs and leaders.  Within the department, we strive to prepare our students to meet these professional needs by focusing on three interdependent axes, that we consider to be the foundations of our studies programmes: teaching, research, and pathways into the profession.   

High-level teaching

In order to be competitive in the very competitive market for early music, graduates must reach the highest possible levels of technical mastery of their instruments.  The weekly individual classes with the main subject professor constitute the core of each student’s study plan. Our professorial faculty is made up of world-renowned performers and pedagogues.  Regular Masterclasses given by prestigious figures and first-rate guest professors, active in the historical music movement today, supplement and enrich this key aspect of the students’ learning.

A thoughtful approach

Research and development into a thoughtful approach are essential elements of the study of early music. They enrich performance, reinforce the unique character of the student’s profile and help them to find their artistic voice. Within the framework of the department, the students are constantly encouraged to ask questions, inform themselves and debate various issues. The department regularly organises special seminars, inviting eminent experts and researchers from all over the world to speak to our students on musical, technical and sociocultural subjects. This enables them to familiarize themselves with the most recent research and thought on a whole series of subjects linked to the early music, and to contextualize the repertoire that they play in their artistic frame of reference. Our students are also encouraged to take part in a diverse range of research projects led by the department’s professors.

A professional springboard

Higher studies in early music must not only enable the students to develop technical expertise and critical thinking; they must also serve as a gateway to the profession.   In order to immerse our students right from the very first day in the professional world and enable them to build a professional network, our projects are led by prestigious conductors, which can lead to ‘side-by-side’ collaborations with renowned Swiss ensembles. The creative entrepreneurship classes are an essential component of our students’ studies plan; they also benefit from the vast professional networks and profile of the department’s tutors, and are regularly asked to perform at historical music festivals in the local area and elsewhere in Europe.