Auréle Nicolet

Aurèle Nicolet, a Swiss flutist, earned widespread critical praise for his recorded accounts of Bach and Mozart. Celebrated as an exceptional stylist, he drew admiration for playing that balanced exacting detail with refined grace. Once established as a leading exponent of those composers, Nicolet shifted his energies to new music, performing pieces that Klaus Huber, Toru Takemitsu, György Ligeti, Edison Denisov, and Heinz Holliger had written expressly for him. He began his training in Zurich with Willy Burckhard and Andre Jonet before continuing in Paris under Yvonne Drappier and Marcel Moyse. While at the Paris Conservatory he absorbed the French flute tradition completely and earned a premier prix in 1947. The following year he captured first prize at the Geneva Competition. Between 1948 and 1950 he served as principal flutist of the Winterhur Symphony, after which Wilhelm Furtwängler appointed him first flute of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he retained until 1959. From 1952 to 1965 he also taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. In 1965 he moved to Freiburg, where he led master classes until 1981. Parallel to these commitments, Nicolet sustained a prominent international career as a recitalist. He died in January 2016, one week after his ninetieth birthday.