HEMU Orchestra

Under the baton of international figures such as Ton Koopman, Jesús López Cobos, Ralph Weikert, Christian Zacharias, Bertrand de Billy, Simone Young, Benjamin Levy, Claire Gibault, Joshua Weilerstein and Kristiina Poska, the HEMU Orchestra performs a repertoire spanning nearly four centuries of musical composition, from 1650 to the present day.

The orchestra’s achievements include several recordings and performances of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and works by Gustav Mahler. These include Dmitri Shostakovich’s Eleventh and Twelfth Symphonies, as well as the premiere of a work by Caroline Charrière, evenings dedicated entirely to Gershwin or Michel Legrand, and several oratorio programmes alongside the HEMU Vocalists.

Thanks to a special partnership with the Sinfonietta de Lausanne since 2021 and with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (OCL) since 2007, the orchestra explores a vast repertoire, performing major works such as the symphonies of Anton Bruckner, Claude Debussy's La Mer, Maurice Ravel's La Valse, Antonin Dvorák's New World Symphony and Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, at the Salle Métropole in Lausanne. This dynamic collaboration also extends to the Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois (OCF) and the Nouvel Opéra Fribourg (NOF).

The HEMU Orchestra also makes its mark on the opera scene, taking part in acclaimed productions such as Arthur Honegger's Les Aventures du Roi Pausole, Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte. It is regularly invited to perform at prestigious venues, such as the Lausanne Opera, the Crochetan in Monthey, the Théâtre Équilibre in Fribourg, the Rosey Concert Hall in Rolle, the Stravinski Auditorium  in Montreux and the Théâtre du Jorat in Mézières. In February 2026, he performed at Sion's new concert hall, Noda BCVS, in a programme shared with the OCL.

Videos

Seen & Heard

• Des Dominicales qui réveillent
• 1 chef de haut vol + 240 musiciennes et musiciens = une soirée magique
• Pépinière de talents en hommage à Nougaro
• Un beau mariage
• Dessine-moi un conte musical

2025-2026 season concerts

• Mozart et les couleurs de l'orchestre
  > December 17, 2025, Utopia 1, Lausanne
   
• Une petite flûte, d'après Mozart
  > November 5–15, 2025, Lausanne Opera
   
• La nuit du concerto
  > December 18, 2025, Utopia 1, Lausanne
   
• Sons célestes
  > January 29, 2026, Rosey Concert Hall, Rolle
  > July 6, 2026, FIMS – International Festival of Sacred Music, Saint-Michel Church, Fribourg
   
• Grand Concert - OCL avec l'Orchestre de l'HEMU
  >  February 10, 2026, Salle Noda BCVS, Sion
  > February 11, 2026, Théâtre de Beaulieu, Lausanne