Head of School of Music, retd

Georges Starobinski has been the dean of the Academy of Music at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland / Musik-Akademie Basel September 2013-2022.

Curriculum Vitae

Georges Starobinski is a musicologist and pianist. After taking his master degrees at the University of Geneva and at the Schools of Music of Geneva and Munich (piano with Harry Datyner, orchestra conducting with Arpad Gérecz and Hermann Michael), he worked as a coach and opera conductor at the Theater Basel (1987-90), as an assistant at the University of Geneva (graduation in 1996 with Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger) and was a full professor of musicology at the University of Lausanne (2004-13). In this function, he was responsible of his subject at the School of Music (HEM§U) and the Technical University of Lausanne (EPFL/Collège des humanités). His studies include subjects of aesthetics of music and questions of performance practice in the 19th and early 20th century, with a focus on the repertoire of the Lied, which he also cultivates as a pianist.

Song accompaniment has ever been a vital part of his musical activities since the time of his studies in Munich, where he accompanied the classes of Brigitte Fassbaender and Helmut Deutsch. He gave concerts with Brigitte Fournier, Irène Friedli, Stephan Genz, Philippe Huttenlocher, Shigeo Ishino, Angela Kerrison, Urszula Kryger, Stephan MacLeod, Sophie Marilley, Kammersänger Thomas Moser, Marcus Niedermeyr, Rudolf Rosen, Carine Séchaye, Mona Somm, Bénédicte Tauran, with the Zürcher Vokalquartett and the Basler Madrigalisten amongst others.

His long collaboration with the German baritone Christian Immler has been documented by a critically acclaimed recording of Heine songs released by BIS. As a song accompanist, Georges Starobinski participated on several occasions at summer classes with the singing pedagogue Eva Krasznai Gombos. He is currently teaching in the specialized Master for Liedgestaltung at the Hochschule für Musik FHNW in Basel.

He has been appointed President of the Jury of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition 2019.