Benjamin Righetti · in brief
Benjamin Righetti is active in Lausanne as titular organist at St-François and professor at the HEMU. He has won enough awards and distinctions to be recognized by his peers, has been giving concerts for around thirty years and is always looking for ways to better communicate with his audience. He composes, spends time in the mountains, imagines far too many projects, and is actively working, with great faith, on the impossible completion of them all. He enjoys drinking good coffee, seeks to simplify his lifestyle in order to cultivate happiness in human relationships rather than baking our planet, and loves to let his fingers and feet wander over organs or any keyboard instruments that surprise, intrigue, and move him.
Benjamin Righetti · classic biography
"One of the most brilliant organists of his generation" (Revue musicale de Suisse romande), "an immensely talented performer" (Diapason), Benjamin Righetti is a Swiss musician, titular organist at St-François and professor at the University of Music, Lausanne (HEMU).
Born in Switzerland in 1982, Benjamin Righetti discovered and became passionate about keyboard instruments at a very young age. He studied the piano in the class of Jean-François Antonioli and organ with Yves Rechsteiner, François Delor, Jean Boyer, Jan Willem Jansen, Michel Bouvard and Philippe Lefebvre. He also regularly practices clavichord and fortepiano. An unclassifiable instrumentalist, or perhaps just an authentic organist, it is in any case at the keyboards of the King of Instruments that he was the laureate of the most prestigious international competitions, from 2002 to 2007: Swiss Organ Competition, Musica Antiqua of Bruges, Tokyo-Musashino Organ Competition, 1st prize at the Silbermann Competition of Freiberg, public prize at Chartres, and Grand Prix d'orgue of the City of Paris. During his studies, he was supported by the Migros Cultural Percentage, the Irene Dénéréaz Foundation and Pro Helvetia.
Since then, he has divided his time between concert activities, church music and teaching. Among the more than 800 concerts he has already given to date, some memorable memories: in Notre-Dame de Paris on her 25th birthday, at the Toulouse les Orgues Festival in many editions, for the millennial celebrations of the Cathedral of Chartres, as soloist with OSR at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, during the Bachfest closing concert at the Dom of Freiberg, at St Jakobi in Lübeck, at the Essen Philharmonic, at St Michael in München, at the Hospital of the Venerable in Seville and Barcelona Cathedral, for the 800th concert of the Martinikerk in Groningen, in Italy in the Cathedrals of Parma or Messina, in the concert hall of the Moscow Conservatory, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg... As a duo, he regularly performs with Antoine Auberson (saxophone) and is a privileged partner of choir conductors Renaud Bouvier and Dominique Tille.
On the recording side, he has released five albums, all of which are currently available from Claves Records: Johann Sebastian Bach's Trio Sonatas in 2010, his transcription of Franz Liszt's Sonata in B minor and Missa choralis in 2011, César Franck's and Johannes Brahms's Chorales in 2013, Felix Mendelssohn's Sonatas in 2016 and "Flowers of degrowth" in 2020. His publications have been acknowledged by international critics (5 of Diapason, the essentials of Diapason d'or, Orphée d'or, Key of the month of Resmusica, 5 stars of Musica...), both for their originality and for the mastery of their production. He also produces music videos for its YouTube channel.
Finally, Benjamin Righetti pursues a research activity, regularly writing articles for the website orgue.art and the magazine La Tribune de l'Orgue. He also produces organ transcriptions and occasionally composes original works (available on imslp.org), often for educational purposes, for his students or for himself.
Benjamin Righetti is active in Lausanne as titular organist at St-François and professor at the HEMU. He has won enough awards and distinctions to be recognized by his peers, has been giving concerts for around thirty years and is always looking for ways to better communicate with his audience. He composes, spends time in the mountains, imagines far too many projects, and is actively working, with great faith, on the impossible completion of them all. He enjoys drinking good coffee, seeks to simplify his lifestyle in order to cultivate happiness in human relationships rather than baking our planet, and loves to let his fingers and feet wander over organs or any keyboard instruments that surprise, intrigue, and move him.
Benjamin Righetti · classic biography
"One of the most brilliant organists of his generation" (Revue musicale de Suisse romande), "an immensely talented performer" (Diapason), Benjamin Righetti is a Swiss musician, titular organist at St-François and professor at the University of Music, Lausanne (HEMU).
Born in Switzerland in 1982, Benjamin Righetti discovered and became passionate about keyboard instruments at a very young age. He studied the piano in the class of Jean-François Antonioli and organ with Yves Rechsteiner, François Delor, Jean Boyer, Jan Willem Jansen, Michel Bouvard and Philippe Lefebvre. He also regularly practices clavichord and fortepiano. An unclassifiable instrumentalist, or perhaps just an authentic organist, it is in any case at the keyboards of the King of Instruments that he was the laureate of the most prestigious international competitions, from 2002 to 2007: Swiss Organ Competition, Musica Antiqua of Bruges, Tokyo-Musashino Organ Competition, 1st prize at the Silbermann Competition of Freiberg, public prize at Chartres, and Grand Prix d'orgue of the City of Paris. During his studies, he was supported by the Migros Cultural Percentage, the Irene Dénéréaz Foundation and Pro Helvetia.
Since then, he has divided his time between concert activities, church music and teaching. Among the more than 800 concerts he has already given to date, some memorable memories: in Notre-Dame de Paris on her 25th birthday, at the Toulouse les Orgues Festival in many editions, for the millennial celebrations of the Cathedral of Chartres, as soloist with OSR at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, during the Bachfest closing concert at the Dom of Freiberg, at St Jakobi in Lübeck, at the Essen Philharmonic, at St Michael in München, at the Hospital of the Venerable in Seville and Barcelona Cathedral, for the 800th concert of the Martinikerk in Groningen, in Italy in the Cathedrals of Parma or Messina, in the concert hall of the Moscow Conservatory, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg... As a duo, he regularly performs with Antoine Auberson (saxophone) and is a privileged partner of choir conductors Renaud Bouvier and Dominique Tille.
On the recording side, he has released five albums, all of which are currently available from Claves Records: Johann Sebastian Bach's Trio Sonatas in 2010, his transcription of Franz Liszt's Sonata in B minor and Missa choralis in 2011, César Franck's and Johannes Brahms's Chorales in 2013, Felix Mendelssohn's Sonatas in 2016 and "Flowers of degrowth" in 2020. His publications have been acknowledged by international critics (5 of Diapason, the essentials of Diapason d'or, Orphée d'or, Key of the month of Resmusica, 5 stars of Musica...), both for their originality and for the mastery of their production. He also produces music videos for its YouTube channel.
Finally, Benjamin Righetti pursues a research activity, regularly writing articles for the website orgue.art and the magazine La Tribune de l'Orgue. He also produces organ transcriptions and occasionally composes original works (available on imslp.org), often for educational purposes, for his students or for himself.
