Martin Jollet is a young French pianist and conductor based in Switzerland. His talents as a soloist, conductor, orchestrator, as well as in chamber musician, make him one of the sought-after musicians of the current generation. He is the pianist and co-founder of the Zeitgeist Ensemble.
Martin Jollet began his piano studies with Marc Maier at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Tours at the age of 5. He graduated in 2015 with a Prix de Perfectionnement in piano, as well as prizes in eight other subjects, with congratulations from the jury. At the age of 18, he enrolled at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in Christian Favre's piano class. There he completed his Bachelor's degree with the highest marks, as well as his Master's concert degree in 2020 with distinction.
Multi-talented artist, he is also studying orchestration and conducting. Martin Jollet is one of Switzerland's most sought-after young pianists, giving solo and chamber music recitals at a number of festivals, including Lavaux Classic, La Roque d'Anthéron, Week-End Musical de Pully, IMS Prussia Cove, Musikdorf Ernen and Festival Syrinx.
He has performed in venues such as Musikverein Wien, Herkulessaal München, KKL Luzern, Salle Métropole Lausanne, etc. Martin Jollet has distinguished himself several times in concerto, notably with the Collegium Musicum Basel and the Ensemble Cartesixte.
©Martin Jollet. Background photo by @Pippa Sieppala
He continued his studies at the Musik Akademie in Basel for a second Master's degree, under the tutelage of Claudio Martinez Mehner, which he obtained in 2022, winning the Musik Akademie prize for Best Piano Recital. He is currently taking part in the prestigious Master of Chamber Music in Basel with the Zeitgeist Ensemble. He has had the opportunity to work with Steven Isserlis, Renaud Capuçon, François Salque, Pascal Moraguès, Anton Kernjak and Vincent Coq, among others. Abdel Rahman el Bacha describes him as a ‘great poet’.
Deeply involved in the music world, he became Assistant Artistic Director of the Lavaux Classic in 2022, for which he co-founded the HEMU Competition and the Piano Competition with Guillaume Hersperger. He is also assistant artistic director of the Crescendo con la Musica Foundation.
He is a laureate of the Paul Juon Competition 2023, the Fritz Bach Prize 2020, the Orpheus Competition 2022, the Mozart Gesellschaft 2023, and is one of eight Europeans to be selected for the Geneva Competition 2022. Martin is kindly supported by Rahn Kulturfonds in 2022 and the Engelberts Foundation in 2023.