About Me
Born in 1998, Donatien Bachmann began his bassoon studies in Antoinette Baehler's class at the CPMDT. At the age of 16, he entered Afonso Venturieri's class at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 2018.
He then continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Basel in the class by Sergio Azzolini, obtaining his Master of Arts in Musikalischer Performance in 2020. He still perfects his skills today in the Rhine city alongside the Italian maestro as part of a School of Excellence, focusing in particular on the study of the baroque bassoon.
Donatien performs regularly as a soloist with various ensembles, including the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Hamburger Harvestehuder Sinfonieorchester, the Ernen Festival Orchestra as well as the Kammerorchester Basel.
Often called upon to create in chamber music and in orchestra, Donatien exchanges musically with many talents from different generations. As a chamber musician he plays alongside Janine Jansen, Thimothy Ridout, Béatrice Berrut, Matthew Hunt and Dmitry Smirnov, and in orchestra under the baton of renowned conductors such as Daniel Harding, Heinz Holliger, James Gaffigan, Alondra de la Para or Charles Of the roof.
Bassoonist of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra for three years, he was also a founding member of the Basilea Wind Quintet in 2018, a wind ensemble made up of promising young musicians from the Hochschule für Musik in Basel and awarded at the Orpheus Competition in 2019.
Five-time winner of the Swiss Youth Music Competition, which earned him to join the Ruth and Ernst Burkhalter Foundation in 2014, Donatien was also awarded a 2nd Prize (1st not awarded) at the CNEM in Riddes in 2018 as well as a 3rd prize at the 8th International Bassoon Competition Giaocchino Rossini.
A curious, turbulent and creative musician, he describes music as solitary, shared, transmitive, non-elitist, infinite and unique, ... but above all curative, as Albert Schweizer says so well:
“There are two ways to forget the worries of life: music and cats ”.
Donatien Bachmann is supported by the Friedl Wald Foundation, the Kiefer-Hablitzel Foundation and the Migros Culture Percentage.
Conducting
In addition to his career as a bassoonist, Donatien is also active as a conductor. He studied under the guidance of Beat Hofstetter and Felix Hauswirth at the University of Music Basel as part of a minor program from 2018 to 2020. He starts as of September 2024 a Master in Conducting at the University of Music Luzern with Prof. Clemens Heil
At present, he serves as the conductor for two ensembles: the Brassband Wolfwil in Solothurn and the StadtMusik Büren an der Aare in Bern.
Rossini - Concerto for bassoon and orchestra - Donatien Bachmann
Rossini - Concerto for bassoon and orchestra - Donatien Bachmann
Donatien Bachmann, bassoon and François-Xavier Poizat, piano play Dubois Sonatine-Tango
Donatien Bachmann, bassoon and François-Xavier Poizat, piano play Tansman Sonatine
