Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

All Music Guide:

One of France and Europe's most distinguished film composers, Vladimir Cosma scored more than 150 films and TV productions. Although he enjoyed almost immediate success in comedies, he continued to experiment with different styles and genres, and this versatility brought him wide international acclaim.

Born on April 13, 1940, in Bucharest, Romania, to the family of a renowned conductor and concert pianist, Cosma studied music from his early years onward, eventually attending the National Conservatory in Bucharest (from which he graduated with two first prizes, for violin and composition). In 1963, he went to Paris to advance his studies at the French Conservatory, where, in addition to his classical background, he developed an interest in jazz, folk music, and film music.

Between 1964 and 1967, he toured the world as a concert violinist, visiting the U.S., Latin America, and Southeast Asia. A meeting with popular film composer Michel Legrand became the first step toward his future career. Cosma always credits Legrand's importance, though he also admits the influence of such composers as Burt Bacharach and Henry Mancini.

In 1967, he began his long-running partnership with film director Yves Robert, for whom he scored the international hits Alexandre (1967), The Tall Blond With One Black Shoe (1972), and The Return of the Tall Blond (1974), as well as the critically acclaimed dramas My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle (both in 1990). He also wrote the music for several comedies directed by Francis Veber and Gerard Oury, starring such hit French comedians as Pierre Richard and Louis de Funes.

One of his biggest international hits was the Erik Satie-inspired soundtrack for Diva (1981), for which he was awarded his first Cesar (the French equivalent of the Oscar). He received another Cesar for Le Bal (1983), and the main instrumental theme from it became a substantial hit worldwide. Among the other awards given to Vladimir Cosma are the Sept d'Or, the French TV award for L'été '36 (1986), and a Cannes Film Festival award for the entire body of his work.

Wikipedia:

The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR; literal translation, "Orchestra of French-speaking Switzerland") is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

Ernest Ansermet founded the OSR in 1918, with a contingent of 48 players and a season of six months' duration. Besides Swiss musicians, the OSR players initially came from other countries, including Austria, France, Germany and Italy. Ansermet gradually increased the percentage of Swiss musicians in the orchestra, attaining 80% Swiss personnel by 1946. Ansermet remained the music director of the OSR for 49 years, from 1918 to 1967.

A Swiss radio orchestra based in Lausanne was merged into the OSR in 1938. Subsequently, the OSR began to broadcast radio concerts regularly on Swiss radio. The orchestra had a long-standing contract for recordings with Decca Records, dating from the tenure of Ansermet, and made over 300 recordings for Decca, starting in 1947 with Debussy's La mer. The OSR premiered many works of the Swiss composers Arthur Honegger and Frank Martin. During the directorship of Armin Jordan (1985–1997), the OSR continued to make recordings on the Erato label.

Since 2005, the artistic director and music director of the OSR has been Marek Janowski. He has conducted the OSR in recordings for the Pentatone label. In September 2008, his initial 5-year contract was extended to 2015. However, in January 2010, in a change to the September 2008 contract extension, Janowski and the OSR mutually agreed on the scheduled conclusion of his directorship of the OSR after the 2011-2012 season. Following the announcement of Janowski's scheduled 2012 departure, attempts to secure Bertrand de Billy and Kazuki Yamada as the OSR's next artistic leader did not come to fruition. However, in September 2010, the OSR named Neeme Järvi as its ninth artistic and musical director, and in parallel, Yamada as principal guest conductor, with both appointments effective as of 2012, with initial contracts of 3 years for both conductors. At Järvi's contract signing in October 2010, the orchestra indicated that Järvi is scheduled to take over the OSR artistic directorship in January 2011.

Artistic and Music Directors