Aurèle Nicolet

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Available Recordings

Composers

Biography

Born: January 22, 1926; Neuchatel, Switzerland

Aurele Nicolet is a Swiss flutist whose recordings of Bach and Mozart have received considerable critical acclaim. A remarkable stylist, Nicolet has been praised for meticulously nuanced and elegant playing. Having established himself as a pre-eminent performer of Bach and Mozart, Nicolet dedicated himself to contemporary music, playing works that prominent composers -- including Klaus Huber, Toru Takemitsu, György Ligeti, Edison Denisov, and Read more Heinz Holliger -- had dedicated to him. Nicolet first studied with Willy Burckhard and Andre Jonet in Zurich, later moving to Paris, where his teachers were Yvonne Drappier and Marcel Moyse. During his studies at the Paris Conservatory, Nicolet thoroughly mastered the French style of flute playing, graduating in 1947 with a premier prix. The following year, Nicolet won first prize in the Geneva Competition. First flutist for the the Winterhur Symphony from 1948 to 1950, he was hired by Wilhelm Furtwängler to play first flute in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This engagement lasted until 1959. Furthermore, between 1952 and 1965, Nicolet taught at Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. In 1965, he went to Freiburg, where he taught master classes until 1981. Nicolet has also pursued a distinguished international career as a concert artist. Read less