Nolwenn Bargin, Musikkollegium Winterthur & Roberto González Monjas
Biography Nolwenn Bargin, Musikkollegium Winterthur & Roberto González Monjas
Nolwenn Bargin
The French flutist Nolwenn Bargin first studied in Paris in the class of Sophie Cherrier. Later she was admitted to the class of Jean-Claude Gérard at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart, where she obtained her artistic diploma. She then studied with Davide Formisano, achieving her soloist diploma in 2010 with highest distinctions. Currently deputy solo flutist at the Musikkollegium Winterthur, Nolwenn Bargin is regularly invited as a substitute player by renowned orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, where she played with conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink and Herbert Blomstedt, or the Philharmonia Zürich where she had the chance to work with conductors such as Fabio Luisi, David Zinman and Nello Santi. Only recently she was invited by the Cameristi della Scala to the El Jem Festival. Since 2017 Nolwenn Bargin has been professor at the Landeskonservatorium Vorarlberg in Feldkirch. She also maintains an extensive career as a soloist and chamber musician. Her chamber music partners include Lise de la Salle, Nicolas Altstaedt, Ian Bostridge and José Cura. In 2018, together with the pianist Maki Wiederkehr, she founded the ensemble “Chant du Vent”.
The Musikkollegium Winterthur
was formed in 1629, making it one of Europe’s oldest musical institutions.
The orchestra now gives some seventy concerts per season, about forty of them in Winterthur. The ensemble increasingly takes part in major concert series abroad. CD recordings of works by Frank Martin, Franz Schubert, Josef Rheinberger (ECHO Klassik 2011), Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Ralph Vaughan Williams (ECHO Klassik 2013) have drawn international attention to the Musikkollegium Winterthur. Thomas Zehetmair, the internationally renowned violinist and conductor, has been the orchestra’s chief conductor since 2016.
In the first half of the 20th century composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Anton Webern, Paul Hindemith, Othmar Schoeck and Arthur Honegger composed for the Musikkollegium Winterthur through their patron Werner Reinhart; their music is still vividly present in today’s concert program.
The Musikkollegium Winterthur has proven strong and pioneering in its commitment for young people – the various formats for young people bring about 5’000 children into the concerts and rehearsals annually. Further, new and experimental concerts are an important factor of the orchestra’s profile. Aside from organizing and performing an annual Classic Openair in a beautiful local park, it presents formats such as classic in the club, “Classic Circus” or “Film & Musik”.
The Musikkollegium Winterthur has featured in books, CD and DVD projects as well as in a documentary film. Famous soloists and conductors like Martin Helmchen, Heinz Holliger, Sir András Schiff, Michael Sanderling, Christian Tetzlaff and Reinhard Goebel value a regular collaboration with the orchestra. In recent years, the Musikkollegium Winterthur has proven pioneering in its work with young artists. The purposeful and lasting promotion of talented young musicians like Kit Armstrong or Teo Gheorghiu is of special concern.
Roberto González Monjas
has been concertmaster of the Musikkollegium Winterthur since the 2013/14 season, a position which he held also at the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome until summer 2019. He is a violin professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and Joint Artistic Director of the Iberacademy in Medellín, Colombia. As of the 2019/20 season, he will take on the role of chief conductor and artistic advisor of the Dala Sinfonietta in Sweden. As a chamber musician, Roberto González Monjas is primarius of the Winterthur String Quartet. He performs regularly with artists such as Kit Armstrong, Janine Jansen, Andreas Ottensamer, Nicolas Altstaedt and Fazil Say, and can look back on enriching musical collaboration with John Corigliano, Leonidas Kavakos, Rainer Schmidt, Ana Chumachenco, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Reinhard Goebel, Sir András Schiff and Ferenc Rados. Roberto González Monjas plays a violin by Giuseppe Guarneri filius Andreae of circa 1703. The acquisition was made possible by five Winterthur families, and the instrument is made available to him by the Rychenberg Foundation.
