Biography

Laurent Zufferey is a Swiss conductor graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (UK).

Born in Sion (Switzerland) in 1993, Laurent first encountered music through the very strong brass band and wind orchestra scene around the city.

Despite coming from a non-musical family, he continued to take an interest in music and started playing percussion in his local wind band of the Harmonie Municipale de Sion, and later in the prestigious Valaisia Brass Band. After winning numerous soloist competitions as a teenager, he came to classical music by frequenting renowned festivals such as Verbier, Gstaad and Crans-Montana.

Although his career path led him to complete a Bachelors degree in Engineering, music started to become a bigger part in Laurent’s life. Alongside his studies, he was the Musical Director at a local band for 4 years.

In 2016, he entered his first competition as a conductor and was awarded 3rd Prize at the Augsburg International Competition by a panel of experts including Atso Almilla (FIN) and Matty Cillissen (NL). This experience was a turning point in Laurent's career, as he decided to pursue music professionally after this event.

He consequently entered the Royal Northern College of Music as a percussionist, where he graduated with a Masters of Music in Performance in 2017.

In 2018, he was successful in gaining a scholarship place on the Conducting Programme with Mark Heron and Clark Rundell, from which he graduated with distinction in 2020, unfortunately just after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2020, in the midst of the crisis, he was invited at very short notice to make his Swiss debut with Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden and Sinfonietta de Lausanne.

Shortly after, in 2021, just after the reopening, Paavo Järvi invited him to his first Conducting Academy at the Tonhalle Zürich, in which he was awarded with the Audience Prize.

A few months later, it was Teodor Currentzis who, at less than 24h notice, invited him to the residence of MusicAeterna in Lucerne. During the public masterclass, Laurent had the opportunity to conduct the first movement of Mahler 5th Symphony, in the KKL Concert Hall.

In September 2021, he was appointed as new Musical Director and Artistic Co-Director of Ensemble Valéik (CH).

In November 2021, he made his debut at the KKL Lucerne for a concert with RedBull Symphonic, in collaboration with the hip-hop artists Loredana, Lillo Scrimalli, Camerata Schweiz and Schweizer Jugend Sinfonie Orchester.

From the start of the season 22-23, Laurent is the assistant conductor of the Orchestre Royal Philharmonic de Liège (B) and of the Basel Sinfonietta (CH).

In september 2022, Laurent made his debut as an opera conductor, assisting Pierre Bleuse in Ouverture Opera’s production of "Die Zauberflöte”, of which he conducted five shows.

In march 2023, he participated in the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, where he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra.

Starting from septembre 2023, he is the new Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre national de Lyon (F). He will take up his post for two years, and will work alongside Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider to study all his scores, attend his rehearsals and discuss his artistic interpretative choices.

In December 2023, due to family reasons, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider had to cancel his presence on the podium at very short notice, which meant that Laurent had to jump-in for the dress rehearsal and the subscription concert on Thursday 14 of December 2023. Resonance Lyriques, critics in the hall that night, commented that ”When so many conductors (Rattle, Pappano, Davis...!) dry up the content, Laurent Zufferey defends an exhilarating conception, in which the lyricism is never exiled.” His performance gained him wide recognition and ended up with a reinvitation for two subscription concerts in June 2025 with a spectacular program including Respighi’s Feste Romane and Debussy’s Iberia.

Laurent has had the opportunity to collaborate as conductor with renowned orchestras such as the Orchestre National de Lyon (F), Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (B), the Orchestre National de Picardie (F), Manchester Camerata (GB), the Sofia Philharmonic (BG), the Augsburger Philharmoniker (DE), the Musikkorps der Bundeswehr (DE), the Moravian Philharmonic (CZ), the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, the Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden, the Crans-Montana Classics Festival and the Argovia philharmonic (CH).