Damien Bachmann

Geneva-born Swiss clarinettist Damien Bachmann is one of the most celebrated clarinetists of his generation. His performances and his playing are regularly hailed by the press, which describes him as "a musician who has achieved a prodigious grace, ease and freedom" (24H, 2017), but also a clarinetist who is "phenomenal, in terms of expressiveness and virtuosity" (Cronica Muzicala, 2020).

Winner of over twenty national and international competitions, Damien Bachmann has performed on the greatest stages of Europe and Asia. He won 1st prize at the Cluj International Music Competition in Romania and the 1st Béla Kovacs International Clarinet Competition in Hungary. He has won the Migros, Friedl-Wald, Schenk, Dienemann, Marescotti and Nicati prizes, as well as the prestigious "Förderpreis" 2016 from the BOG Foundation in Basel and 2nd prize at the "Concours de Musique Kiefer Hablitzel 2018".

In chamber music, Damien Bachmann plays with established artists of his generation, such as violinists Janine Jansen, Aleksey Igudesman, Andrey Baranov, Tedi Papavrami, pianists Claire Huangci, Béatrice Berrut, Nikita Mndoyants, François-Xavier Poizat, Christian Chamorel, Ricardo Castro, cellists Maximilian Hornung, Ophélie Gaillard, Lionel Cottet, Nadège Rochat, Christoph Croisé, Astrig Siranossian, as well as with the Quatuor Ebène, the Aviv Quartet, the Quatuor Terpsycordes and the Casal Quartet. He has also collaborated with conductor Charles Dutoit and recitalists Julie Depardieu and Annie Dutoit-Argerich. He has performed in recital and as soloist in China's major concert halls in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, in Switzerland at the Tonhalle in Zurich and Victoria Hall in Geneva, and at major festivals such as the Engadin Festival and Variations Musicales de Tannay. An established soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the Sinfonie Orchester Basel, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Zürcher Kammerorchester, the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia and the Argovia Philharmonic.

Damien Bachmann is a member of CHAARTS Chamber Artists, an ensemble of 40 musicians under the direction of conductor Gabor Takacs Nagy. Passionate about passing on his art, he teaches masterclasses in Switzerland, Romania and China, and is frequently invited to sit on juries at international competitions.

He trains with internationally renowned soloists and teachers such as Kilian Herold, François Benda, Paolo Beltramini, Harri Mäki, Michel Westphal and Thomas Friedli, and has had the opportunity to perfect his skills with Andreas Sunden and Wenzel Fuchs.

Damien Bachmann has been a professor at the Musik Akademie Basel since 2022. In 2010, he helped found the Puplinge Classique Festival, for which he served as artistic director for 12 years. In 2021, he launched - with his two brothers - the first edition of the Schubertiades de Thônex. Damien Bachmann is an official Buffet Crampon artist and plays Tosca and Prestige clarinets.