Noëlle-Anne Darbellay

Biography

Noëlle-Anne Darbellay was born in Bern and grew up in a family of musicians. After studying at the University of the Arts in Utrecht (the Netherlands) with Karen Turpie, she graduated with a master’s degree in performance from the Geneva University of music under the guidance of Stefan Muhmenthaler, whom she now assists. She received valuable insights from teachers including David Takeno, Felix Andrievsky, Bruno Canino and Siegfried Palm, as well as from Julia Schröder for the baroque violin.
As a soloist she has played amongst others at the Lucerne Festival, rainy days Festival from the Philharmonia Luxembourg, Schumannfest at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Musiksommer Ernen, Davos Festival young artists in concert, World New Music Days, Music Documents Tokyo, Rencontres musicales de Champéry, Musikfestival Bern, Schubertiade d’Espace 2 and at the Festival International de Musique Tibor Varga in Sion.
Her activity as a chamber musician brought her to numerous prestigious venues and festivals in Europe, North America and Asia, with radio broadcasts by WDR, SWR, BR-Klassik, Deutschlandfunk, Radio Denmark, SRF 2 Kultur a.o.
Noëlle-Anne Darbellay is a member of the Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain and works amongst others with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Collegium Novum Zürich and the ensemble for ancient music Die Freitagsakademie.
Together with her brother, french horn player Olivier Darbellay, she builds the core of Ensemble Orion. The siblings play in various configurations: from solos and duos, to octets and nonets – augmenting the ensemble with outstanding guest musicians. In 2018 they released a critically acclaimed album with the pianist Benjamin Engeli for Challenge Records.
Furthermore, Noëlle-Anne Darbellay is a founding member of the collective Jetpack Bellerive that commissions new works focusing on sounding out the boundaries between new music, fine art and performance and premiered numerous works by internationnally renowed artists and composers.
For her innovative work she received the recognition award from the music committee of the Canton of Bern.