Adam Starkie

clarinet and artistic direction

Adam Starkie is a clarinetist with a passion for New Music, dedicating his career to creating and performing contemporary works. His focus on innovation has led him to collaborate with composers and ensembles worldwide, premiering experimental music that challenges the norms of classical performance.

His career is marked by collaborations with ensembles like Ensemble Linea, Accroche Note, Ensemble Cairn, Ensemble Zellig, l'imaginaire, El Perro Andaluz, and Ensemble Lemnisacte premiering new works in festivals and concert halls across Europe, Asia, and North America.

Adam is also the co-founder and artistic director of lovemusic. The Strasbourg-based collective aims to work collaboratively with a diverse array of artists in order to create a repertoire representative of the eclectic tastes of the musicians that make up the collective. He received the Music Prize of the Académie Rhénane in 2023 for his contribution to New Music.

His discography includes plastic love by Santiago Díaz Fischer (NEOS), Corps by Raphaël Cendo (the fingerprint), Stillness by Aurélien Dumont (Odradek), and Articulated Sound Energy by Julien Maluasenna (enmossed).

Adam studied with Dov Goldberg (Psappha Ensemble) and Armand Angster (Accorche Note). He earned a Bachelors Degree and advanced diplomas in contemporary music and bass clarinet as well as a Master’s degree in musical interpretation from the Academy of Music of Strasbourg / Haute École des Arts du Rhin and his teaching diploma (Diplôme d’état).

Emiliano Gavito

flute and artistic associate

Emiliano is a flautist, performer, and co-founder of lovemusic, recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Ensemble Prize 2025. Through this platform, he promotes and creates new repertoire, designing projects that encourage fresh perspectives on contemporary music. He is particularly interested in exploring instruments and performance techniques as tools for expressing social and political themes. For Emiliano, new music, as a performing art, extends beyond the sonic experience. He strongly believes that new music, like any contemporary art form, reflects present-day society and should be accessible to everyone.

In recent years, he has delved into theatrical approaches to musical performance, integrating voice and movement, and working in close collaboration with composers. His latest project, I was wearing my skin unfresh, created with composer Finbar Hosie, is a testament to this direction.

Continuously seeking new horizons, Emiliano’s artistic activity spans a wide range of performances across France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Netherlands, the USA, and Japan.

Having collaborated with artists from diverse disciplines and aesthetic backgrounds, he has developed a remarkable openness to new artistic experiences. Emiliano holds the French State Diploma in Specialised Music Education (DE) and maintains an active pedagogical practice, working with both performance and composition students in France and internationally.

Emiliano’s passion for the performing arts began early. Alongside his studies in flute and chamber music, he trained in classical and contemporary dance, performing with several companies at international festivals. His interest in the interplay between music, movement, and theatre led him to pursue interdisciplinary studies in the UK, further expanding his artistic research.

He graduated from the Strasbourg Conservatoire, where he studied flute, chamber music, and choreographic practices. Deeply fascinated by the connections between historical and contemporary performance, he also earned a diploma in baroque flute and trained in baroque dance.

 Emily Yabe

violin - viola

Emily Yabe obtained a Bachelor of Music at the Toho Gauken School of Music in her home town of Tokyo, followed by postgraduate studies at the Hochschule für musik Dresden with diplomas in Orchestral music and a Soloist diploma with Prof. Ivan Ženatý, which she completed in 2012.

During her studies in Tokyo, she began working with contemporary artists. In 2002 she received the Scholarship Prize at the Darmstadt Summer Course. In 2008 she received the special prize for the best interpretation of a 20th century work at the International "Queen Sophie Charlotte" Competition and in 2010 the DAAD Prize. She was also a scholarship holder at the Hellerau Academy for Experimental Music Theatre 2010/11.

Emily has participated in master classes with Vadim Gluzman, Ulf Hoelscher, Kevork Mardirossian, Miklós Perényi, Benjamin Schmid, Thomas Brandis, Ensemble Modern and ensemble recherche.

She has worked with numerous contemporary artists and composers, including Mark Andre, Saskia Bladt, Adriana Hölszky, Sven-Ingo Koch, György Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, Helmut Oehring, Enno Poppe and Manos Tsangaris, and has given world premieres in Europe and Asia.

She has appeared as a soloist at the Munich Biennale, ECLAT Festival, Tonlagen-Hellerau, SPOR Festival in Aarhus, rainy days-Festival de musiques nouvelles in Luxembourg, at the Semperoper (Semper Zwei), at the Staatsoper Berlin in "Abstract Pieces", at the Deutsche Oper in "Underline" and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in "Tonguecat" from the Munich Opera Festival.

She is also a member of the ensembles El Perro Andaluz and tooperative.

Christian Lozano Sedano

guitar

Mexican guitarist Christian Lozano obtained his performance degree at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico City’s Escuela Superior de Música with Leticia Alba. He then continued his studies with guitarist Juan Carlos Laguna. 
In 2006 he pursued his studies in Switzerland with guitarist Pablo Marquez at the Musik Akademie Basel where he obtained the Konzertdiplom as well as a Masters in Music Pedagogy. During his studies he was granted the prestigious “Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship”. 
Christian has participated in masterclasses and courses in early music, improvisation and contemporary music with renowned teachers such as Abel Carlevaro, Paul Galbraith, Stephan Schmidt, Hopkinson Smith, Eduardo Fernández, Magnus Anderson, Fred Frith, Marco Battaglia, Pablo Gómez and Mariano Martin.
He has performed in concert halls and festivals in Mexico, France, Germany, Switzerland and Paraguay.  In 2006 he performed the Paraguayan premier of the famous Concierto del Sur by the Mexican composer Manuel M. Ponce with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Asunción.
Currently based in Basel, Switzerland, he regularly performs as a soloist and with numerous chamber music ensembles. Alongside the classical guitar repertoire Christian Lozano has a special interest in the music from the 20th and 21st centuries.  Christian is also a professor at the Musik Akademie Basel. 

Céline Papion

cello

Céline Papion is a curious and versatile artist - cellist, performer, concert designer and artistic director. She wanders between early and contemporary music as well as music theatre and free improvisation. Her work and commitment to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries was honoured in 2019 with the "Internationale Bodensee-Konferenz" award in the category of interpretation of contemporary music.

Céline trained in France with renowned cellists and teachers such as Raphaële Sémésiz, Hélène Dautry, Ophélie Gaillard and Philippe Müller. She then travelled to Germany, where she rounded off her training with Francis Gouton and Jean-Guihen Queyras. During her studies, she was a scholarship holder of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation Live Music Now. She later received further scholarships such as the INITIAL scholarship from the Akademie der Künste Berlin together with the composer Yiran Zhao (2021-22), the Goethe Institute scholarship (2022) and the Deutscher Musikrat scholarship (2023).

She initiates, conceives, performs and directs her own projects with a penchant for experimental and interdisciplinary formats, including the PUSS Festival (2017), OTTO (2018-19) and Sonic Ocean (2022).

Continuous exchange with composers and contemporary artists also plays an important role. Céline works closely with composers such as I-lly Cheng, Oliver S. Frick, Toshio Hosokawa, Steffen Krebber, Joseph Michaels and Yiran Zhao. She is a member of collective lovemusic, Reactive Ensemble, Ensemble il capriccio, and Stiftsbarock Stuttgart. She is a board member of the Stuttgart Collective for Current Music (Stuttgarter Kollektiv für aktuelle Musik) and co-director of the ensemble for free improvisation Open_Music. 

Céline has been a guest at international stages and festivals including Musik der Jahrhunderte Stuttgart, Theater Junges Ensemble Stuttgart, Theater Rampe Stuttgart, the "Musiktheaterformen" at Gare du Nord Basel, Sinuston Festival Magdeburg, EinTanzHaus Mannheim, Opera National du Rhin, Cité de la voix in Vezelay, the Music Series at NUI Maynooth and UCC Cork (Ireland) as well as the Música Hoje Bienale for New Music in Curitiba (Brazil). She was an artist-in-residence at the Borneo Laboratory (Malaysia, 2017), Theater Rampe Stuttgart (2020-21) and Treasure Hill Artist Village Taipei (Taiwan, 2022 & 2024).

 Finbar Hosie

electronics and artistic associate

Finbar  (b. 1996, Salisbury) is a Franco-British composer based in Strasbourg, France. His music explores a radically phenomenological approach to sound and the concert experience. Oscillating between fragility and visceral intensity, his music blurs the boundaries between the electronic and the acoustic. Narrative, poetics, and a strong sense of social and political questioning permeate Finbar's work. Through striking recontextualisations of literature and text, as well as the incorporation of video and pop-cultural references, his music embraces radicality and pathos. It is anchored in the present, often evoking a deep sense of absurdity on stage and beyond. As such, Finbar strives for a universal and inclusive New Music, resisting the binarities of contemporary life and the isolationism often present in the scene, offering a multiplicity of view points for all audiences.

Alongside a maximalist reflection of contemporary culture and experience, Finbar’s output also draws from his longstanding interest in the hybridisation of contemporary composition, traditional folk music, and electronica. An influence rooted in the folk heritage that marked the beginning of his musical life, which as come to heavily inform his work in the lineage of long-standing Folk traditions of narration and story telling.

Finbar’s works have been programmed at festivals and institutions such as Gaudeamus, ZKM Karlsruhe, Unerhörte Musik Berlin, Dublin Sound Lab, Constellation Chicago, Kunstraum Walcheturm Zurich, Neubad Lucerne, and Impuls Graz, among others. He has received commissions supported by bodies including the French Ministry of Culture, Sacem, and Diaphonique, and was a 2023 laureate of the Diaphonique New Music Fund. Since 2022, he has been a core member of the Strasbourg-based collective lovemusic, since then he has held key responsibilities across production, technical and administrative functions in the collective, in addition to his work interpreting electronics when performing with the collective. He is currently appointed as Artistic Associate and sound director. In May 2025, collective lovemusic was presented with the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Ensemble Prize at an award ceremony in Munich.

Central to his practice is a mutualist relationship with performers: a sustained investigation of the instrument both as a material sound-object and as a corporeal extension. Drawing from historical practices, he advocates for experimentation, collaboration, and close reciprocity throughout the compositional process. The result is a music of physical tension, poised at the limits of mechanical precision and the perceived imperfections of the organic or human.

Finbar holds a Master’s degree from the Strasbourg Conservatoire and the Académie Supérieure de Musique de Strasbourg (HEAR) and the University of Strasbourg. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from Brunel University London, where he received the Steve Thomas Memorial Prize for Composition upon graduation

 Sophie Wahlmüller

viola

Sophie Wahlmüller is violist and pedagogue based in Switzerland.

Deeply engaged in the exploration of new soundscapes, she is a dedicated member of several contemporary music ensembles, including collective lovemusic, Kubus Kollektiv, and Ensemble Lemniscate. She also serves as principal violist of Camerata49.

Since 2013, Sophie has shared her love for music as a violin and viola teacher at the Regionale Musikschule Lyss, nurturing the next generation of curious and creative string players.

 Léa Legros Pontal

viola

Léa Legros Pontal, born in Marseille in 1988, is a freelance violist based in Bern (CH). After completing a Bachelor's degree with honours at the CNSMD in Lyon (2012), she continued her studies in Switzerland with a Master's degree in Performance and a Master's degree in Orchestra at the Lucerne University of Music and Performing Arts, studying with Isabel Charisius and Sylvia Zucker.

A keen chamber musician, she studied with the Quatuor Ysaÿe at the Paris Conservatoire and was a member of a flute, viola and harp trio for five years. She has performed at various festivals alongside musicians such as Peter Bruns and Franz Helmerson.

Léa has worked with a several orchestras, including the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, the Basel Sinfonietta, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Festival Strings Lucerne. She is principal viola of the Camerata Ataremac (Lausanne) and a member of the Berner Kammerorchester.

Contemporary music and free improvisation are central to her career. Trained in improvisation in Lyon, she has furthered this art with Garth Knox, Joëlle Léandre and others. In 2018, she and Ensemble Nachhall developed a 24-hour improvisation marathon at the crossroads of free-jazz and improvisation. With saxophonist Silke Strahl, she founded the Duo Klexs, winner of second prize in the 2019 Nicati Competition, with whom she has created numerous pieces.

Since 2022, she has been a member of collective lovemusic, which specialises in contemporary music and won the Ernst von Siemens Foundation 2025 Ensemble Prize.

Léa is also interested in early music, and has trained on the baroque viola with Sabine Stoffer.

 Niamh Dell

oboe

Niamh Dell is an Australian oboist currently undertaking a PhD in contemporary performance research at the University of York. She completed her bachelor studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the University of Western Australia in 2016. In 2017/2018 Niamh was a member of the International Ensemble Modern Academy Masters programme in Frankfurt, Germany, and performed a vast range of contemporary chamber and orchestral repertoire in venues such as the Kölner Philharmonie, the Hessischer Rundfunk, the Deutschlandfunk, and the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

Niamh has learned from oboists including Christian Hommel, Alexandre Oguey and Elizabeth Chee, and taken part in masterclasses with artists such as Alexei Ogrintchouk (RCO), Emanuel Abbühl (LSO), and Diana Doherty (SSO). 

 Grace Durham

voice

Grace Durham is a London-born mezzo-soprano whose career spans baroque, recital, opera and contemporary music. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the National Opera Studio, was a member of the Junges Ensemble at the Semperoper Dresden, and is the winner of several international competitions including the Cesti Competition for Baroque Opera and the Toulouse International French Song Competition. She currently lives in Paris.

With lovemusic, she has given the world premières of Philip Venables’ Numbers and Michelle Agnes Magalhaes’ The Word, and performed works by Luxa M. Schüttler, Claude Lenners and Jennifer Walshe. As a member of the Semperoper Dresden, she also created the role of Clare in the German première of Philip Venables’ 4.48 Psychose; with Ensemble Itinéraire, she created the role of Miranda in the world première of Michelle Agnes Magalhaes’ Après la tempête : a songbook for Shakespeare at the Festival Messiaen. Ensemble Itinéraire also selected her as one of six participants in their Opus One Academy, a mentoring programme for first-time composers, and her début work Night Vision was recorded by the ensemble in 2025.

Her latest projects include covering the title role in Handel’s Ariodante at the Royal Ballet & Opera, Covent Garden, The Presenter in an immersive, inclusive production of Tippett’s New Year with Birmingham Opera Company, and Aeneas in an all-female reimagining of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, featuring spoken theatre and dance, on tour throughout France with Ensemble Les Surprises. She has also performed in recital with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques at the Staastoper Berlin, the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik and the Festival Antiqua Bolzano, and in recital programmes ranging from Haydn to world premières with pianist Edward Liddall at the Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra National du Capitole de Toulouse, Musée d’Orsay and London’s Wigmore Hall.

Grace holds a degree in French and Italian from Clare College, Cambridge, has studied theatre at the Académie Aparté with mentors including Nicolas Vaude, and can often be seen on stage wearing clothes she has created.

 Célia Levasseur

production administration

Having grown up in an artistic and cultural environment, Célia Levasseur was naturally driven to support companies and artistic collectives in the management of their projects.

After obtaining Bachelor degrees in Law and Philosophy at the Panthéon Sorbonne University and Masters degrees in Teaching & Training and Administration of Music and Performing Arts at the University Saclay, she made her skills and knowledge available to several cultural structures (music, theatre, dance, audiovisual production, etc.).

Highly competent in administration, production and project management, she adapts to the needs of artists and companies she accompanies in order to allow them to develop their projects as well as possible. Versed in notions of employee rights, social justice, diversity and equity, she chooses the projects for which she works in a spirit of political engagement and the influence of these in her practice as well as in those of the structures with which she works.