Pascal Mayer

To introduce Pascal Mayer? It's to convey enthusiasm in a heartbeat. Indeed, it's through this brotherly enthusiasm that he gathers people into the communicative -and, by him, irrevocable - energy of music.
Don't be misled by the gentle gaze or the youthful curls of his hair. For a long time, he has journeyed through all the centuries of musicians, learned from the most passionate conductors with whom he trained, sought out contemporary composers to discover and bring them to life with the best of his choirs.
Does he have doubts in his daily life? Of course! Do you think one can live a passion unscathed, in the sensitive flesh of music? But these are the kinds of doubts in him that stimulate and generate. They propel the soul forward through the test of time and give life to the future.
But here he is, standing before you at the start of the concert: suddenly, nothing else exists but this moment given, and united.
Jean-Dominique Humbert, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Coopération newspaper

Pascal Mayer studied singing and choral conducting at the conservatories of Fribourg and Zurich. He has been a member of the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne (dir. Michel Corboz), the Chœur de la Radio Romande (dir. André Charlet) and the Stuttgart Chamber Choir (dir. Frieder Bernius). He conducted the Basler Kammerchor for Paul Sacher for five years, and the Faller Choir in Lausanne for 20 years. From 1987 to 1997, he worked as co-director alongside André Charlet with the Chœurde Chambre Romand.

With a musical sensitivity as lively as it is eclectic, combining formal rigor with lyrical and expressive qualities acquired during his youth in the school of Renaissance Pascal Mayer studied singing and choral conducting at the conservatories of Fribourg and Zurich. Pascal Mayer explores great works, from Bach's Mass in B Minor to Britten's War Requiem. He has premiered numerous works by Swiss composers.

Pascal Mayer founded the Chœur de l'Université et des Jeunesses Musicales de Fribourg and the Chœur de Chambre de l'Université de Fribourg. In 1995, with Valais choirmaster Hansruedi Kämpfen, Pascal Mayer formed the Swiss Youth Choir within the framework of the Swiss Federation Europa Cantat.

In Lausanne, he directs the Chœur Pro Arte, an ensemble with which he tackles the oratorio repertoire.

In Lucerne, he is the conductor of the Collegium Musicum at the Jesuit Church, where he also teaches choral conducting at the Hochschule-Musik.

From 1985 to 2020, he taught music at the Collège Ste-Croix in Fribourg. He founded the Collège Ste-Croix Choir and directed it until 2020.

From 1996 to 2019, he prepared the choirs for the Avenches Opera Festival. He is regularly invited to prepare choirs for the Opéra de Lausanne.

Pascal Mayer collaborates with the Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Sinfonietta de Lausanne and the Ensemble baroque du Léman.