Léa Legros Pontal

viola

Léa Legros Pontal, born 1988 in Marseille, is a freelance violist based in Bern. After a Bachelor's degree with honours at the CNSMD in Lyon (2012), she moved to Switzerland to complete her studies with a Performance Master's degree followed by an Orchestral Master's degree at the Musikhochschule Lucerne with Isabel Charisius and Sylvia Zucker.

Passionate about chamber music, Léa studied in the Ysaÿe Quartet’s class at the Paris Conservatory. She was also member of a flute, viola and harp trio for almost five years. She has performed at various festivals alongside Peter Bruns, Franz Helmerson and Isabel Charisius.

Léa regularly works with several orchestras such as the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the Festival Strings Lucerne.

She is also Principal Viola with the Camerata Ataremac (Lausanne). Since 2020 she is also a member of the Berner Kammerorchester (BKO).

Contemporary music and free improvisation are two important aspects of her musical activity. During her studies in Lyon she took part in improvisation classes directed by Henri-Charles Caget and Jean-Marc Foltz. Afterwards Léa continued receiving artistic advice from Garth Knox, Joëlle Léandre, Laurent Estoppey, Nils Wogram, Jacques Demierre, Lauren Newton and Gerry Hemingway.

Together with saxophonist Silke Strahl she founded the Klexs Duo, which won second prize at the 2019 Nicati Competition. She is also a member of Ensemble Nachhall (a quartet with Sara Käser-cello, Raphael Loher-piano and Silke Strahl), whose music fluctuates between free jazz and free improvisation.

Since her studies in Lyon Léa has also been very interested in early music. She chose this subject as a Minor for her first Master’s gaining a lot of experience. Since 2018 she has been studying barock viola with the violinist Sabine Stoffer at the Musikschule Bern. Léa performs regularly with the ensembles Arpa Festante (DE) and Chiave d'Arco (CH).

Léa teaches violin and viola at the music school Violin4all in Fribourg.