Principal harp
Mahalia Kelz
Member since 2001
Biography
She has performed as a soloist at festivals including Musica Riva (I), Verbier (CH), as well as with St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Geneva Chamber Orchestra and the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester. She has also performed for the German Foreign Minister Dietrich Genscher, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the Japanese Emperor and Empress.
Mahalia Kelz completed her studies with Chantal Mathieu at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne in 1994 with “premier prix” and distinction, followed by the Concert Exam in 1995. She went on to study at Moscow Music Academy with Natalia Shameyeva and took part in masterclasses with Elisabeth Fontan-Binoche and Vera Dulova.
She has performed as a soloist at festivals including Musica Riva (Italy), Verbier (Switzerland), as well as with St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Geneva Chamber Orchestra and the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester. She has also performed for the German Foreign Minister Dietrich Genscher, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the Japanese Emperor and Empress.
A member of the Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain and the SABETH Trio Basel, she has given masterclasses in France and in the USA, taught at the Basel Academy of Music and at the music school in Schüpfheim since 2012. Her awards include first prizes at ASTH, Lyon (1993), Namur, Belgium (1997) and the Concours de Jeunes Solistes, Lausanne (1995). In 1997 she won the Concours de Genève where she was also awarded a special prize.
