Pascal Siffert, Principal Viola

Pascal Siffert joined the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as a member in 1990 and was invited to become Principal Viola in 2001. Of his time with the COE, Pascal keeps particularly fond memories of his projects with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, such as the Beethoven Symphonies (an award-winning recording), Ma Vlast at Styriarte 2010, the recording of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, the Schumann symphony cycle and Genoveva, which was also recorded. He was also part of the Sibelius and Brahms’ symphony cycles under the direction of Paavo Berglund and, more recently, the Beethoven and Brahms symphony cycles with Bernard Haitink.

Having studied with Marianne Baumann at the Fribourg Conservatoire, Sandor Vegh at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Keiko Wataya and Charles-André Linale at the Conservatory of Utrecht, Pascal took masterclasses with Thomas Riebl in Prussia Cove, UK.

Pascal was a member of the Salzburg Camerata between 1992 and 1997, and during that time also performed regularly with the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt. He played with the Ensemble Pyramide in Zürich between 1989 and 1995 and continues to perform chamber music with various ensembles.

In 1996 Pascal moved to Stockholm and has been principal viola of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002.