BALLON, Severine

Séverine Ballon is a French composer and cellist whose work brings together performance and composition in a deeply interconnected artistic practice. Her music is shaped by close collaborations with other artists and reflects a commitment to both creative innovation and social engagement.

As a performer, Ballon has established herself as one of the leading interpreters of contemporary music, working closely with composers to explore the expressive possibilities of sound. She has premiered solo and concerto works by internationally renowned composers including Rebecca Saunders, Chaya Czernowin, Mauro Lanza, Philippe Leroux and Francesca Verunelli.

Composition emerged naturally from her work as a cellist, beginning as a personal record of improvisations developed during daily instrumental practice before evolving into an independent creative discipline. She later studied composition with Johannes Schöllhorn at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.

Ballon has received numerous prestigious awards and fellowships throughout her career. She was a fellow at the Villa Médicis (2023–2024), received both the SuperPhoniques Award and the SuperPhoniques des professeur·e·s de lycées in 2024 for her vocal work "Toucher un souvenir", and became a fellow at Civitella Ranieri in 2025. She also won the Luc Ferrari Competition in 2019 and composed "Je suis honorée d’être née dans ta tête" (2021), a work for narrator and three musicians based on texts by Babouillec and produced by La Muse en Circuit.

Her recent commissions and collaborations include projects for internationally recognised festivals and ensembles such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Ultraschall Festival, Radio France, Fondation Banque Populaire, Transit Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF), Centre Henri Pousseur, Ensemble 2e2m, Ensemble Schallfeld, Ensemble LUX:NM, and musicians Asa Åkerberg and Shizuyo Oka.

As a cellist, Ballon studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and Lübeck with Joseph Schwab and Troels Svane. She was a member of the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie (2004–2005) and further developed her expertise in contemporary cello performance with Siegfried Palm, Pierre Strauch and Rohan de Saram. After serving as principal cellist of the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra (2005–2006), she chose to dedicate her career to contemporary music and the premiere of new works. She was also an artist-in-residence at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart (2008–2009).

Her international career has included a visiting fellowship at Harvard University (2014–2015), supported by the Harvard French Scholarship Fund and the Arthur Sachs Fellowship, and a residency as a visiting artist at CCRMA, Stanford University (2015–2016).

In addition to her concert work, Ballon has composed original film scores for director João Pedro Rodrigues, including "The Ornithologist" (2016) and "Where Is This Street? or With No Before And After", co-directed with João Rui Guerra da Mata.

Her recordings include the solo cello album "Solitude"(Aeon/Outhere, 2015) and her first album as a composer, "Inconnaissance", released by All That Dust. Through both her performances and compositions, Séverine Ballon continues to make a significant contribution to contemporary classical music, expanding the possibilities of the cello and championing new musical ideas.