1- Our conference with Professor Patrick Barbier on May 2, 2024

We are pleased to announce that the first conference organized by our association will take place on May 2, 2024 at the Geneva Museum of Art and History. The public will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in "The History of Castrati " thanks to Mr. Patrick Barbier. A music historian, professor emeritus at the Université catholique de l'Ouest (Angers), Officer of the Order of Academic Palms of the French Republic, Prix de l'Académie française, Prix du Château de Versailles, his eponymous work has been translated into twelve languages.

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The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Genève not only offers a prestigious setting for this event, but also makes it an integral part of its own cultural program. .

It's a wonderful opportunity for our association to be backed by a Geneva institution that is more than a hundred years old and has an international reputation.

2- Our presence in the media

2.1 On March 19, I had the opportunity to speak on the local Geneva radio station LuxRadio's "Les Matinales" program.

This is a program that interviews a guest between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. in six 5-minute segments, interspersed with music, tracing his or her career and news, on a general-interest radio station aimed at a fairly young age group (18-30).

So I took up the challenge, trying to keep an accessible tone to capture the listeners.

I'll leave it to you to appreciate the result by clicking on the following link: Helvetia Lyrica | Interview with Mr. Patrick Motisi on Radio Lux on March 19, 2024 in the " Media " section of our website.

2.2 On March 30, thanks to the initiative of one of our members in Paris, Mr Arnaud Kientz, we benefited from a short article in the magazine "Forum Opera"(read the article on Forum Opéra).

" Forum Opera " is a French online magazine with a French-speaking audience that covers all aspects of opera (news, commentary on performances, interviews, discography portraits, miscellaneous reports, etc.).

Let's hope that this is a first contact for another future development for our association.

Our warmest thanks to Mr Arnaud Kientz for his initiative.

3- Our exhibition "Christine Nilsson": June 20 and 27, 2024

We've already started work on our exhibition project on Swedish soprano Christine Nilsson.

We have agreed a "modus operandi" with our partner Swiss One plus, who will host our exhibition.

The limited venue will inevitably mean a very limited number of tickets.

We have high hopes of attracting personalities and convincing them to participate with us in a subsequent exhibition on the same theme, but in a more demonstrative and public way.

4- Development of the Chris Merritt Masterclass

We've been in touch with our Honorary Committee Chairman, tenor Chris Merrit, with whom we'd like to organize an opera masterclass under his guidance in the last quarter of 2024.

We'll keep you informed as this project develops.

5- Reflection on the association's 2025 program

We've already started brainstorming ideas for our 2025 program.

We are planning two lectures with Professor Patrick Barbier, depending on his availability, on two ^19th-century Divas: Malibran and Pauline Viardot.

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 Patrick Motisi

Chairman of the Executive Committee