Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot

The Viennese-born violist Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot , former student of Siegfried Führlinger (Vienna) and Heidi Castleman (USA), is known as a violist of exceptional qualitity. She is full professor (tuitulaire) of viola and chamber music at the Université de Montréal, Canada, as well as on the faculties of the Orford Music (Festival Quebec), the TTT Project (teach teachers teach) in Villaricca,Chile and the Sarasota International Music Festival (USA). She also has taught at the Perlman Music Programm (PMP) , the Heifetz International Music Institute (Virginia) ), and the North American Viola Institute (NAVI).

She is reknown for her performances of rare late-romantic viola repertoire. Her solo CDs, entitled “Alto Romantic Fantasies” (works by Ph. Scharwenka, C.Reinecke, R. Fuchs, J. Joachim – Eclectra ECCD-2060) and « German Romantic Works » (sonatas by R.Fuchs, E. Naumann, F. Kiel, R.Schumann – Fidelio FIDC 018) have both been acclaimed in Fanfare magazine with praise :“Here the viola shines with as much fire as a passionate violin, cries with as much desperation as a cello, entices, seduces, and convinces the listener that no string instrument could be more versatile or beautiful.”
She also has recorded on CD (Centrediscs CMCCD21515) the viola concerto written specifically for her by Tim Brady with the Nova Scotia Symphony orchestra in 2015.

In 2017 Jutta won the German Best Edition Prize 2017 for her re-edition of 13 of the French “Pièces de Concours” (written from 1896-1940) published by Schott in 3 volumes (ED 22254-56). Her new double CD “Pièces de Concours.- Virtuosic romantic works by French composers” (Navona NV6065) has gotten rave reviews from Fanfare magazine as well as from the Strad Magazine, Das Orchester (Germany) , La Szena Musicale (Québéc) Infodad, Kathodik (Italy) and the Classical Modern Music Review.

Jutta has vast experience as a chamber musician, having been part of the Quatuor Claudel String Quartet, the Kegelstatt Clarinet/vla/pno Trio, the Montreal String Trio, the Wiener Nonet, the Ensemble La Piéta, the Ondine Piano Quartett and currently the Puchhammer-Desjardins Duo (vla/pno). Her participation in diverse festivals has permitted her to play with various artists of international reputation such as John Perry, André Laplante, Anton Kuerti, Caecilia Boschman, Chantal Juillet, Janos Starker, Laurence Lesser, Rudolf Leopold, Thomas Selditz, André Moisan Alain Trudel and Robert Langevin.

Jutta regularly gives masterclasses at the Juilliard School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music (USA), the Cleveland Institute(USA), the University of Vienna, the University of Rotterdam, the Hautes Ecoles de Musique de Genève et de Lausanne in Europe as well as the Conservatoires Supérieures de Musique de Lyon and CRR in Paris.
She has also given masterclasses and a recital in the Primrose memorial Series at Brigham Young University, Provo (USA) in spring 2017.
Jutta was the Principal Violist of the Laval Symphony orchestra for 20 years until 2017; she was president of the Canadian Viola Society (CVS) from 2006-2014, and has been president of the International Viola Society (IVS) since 2020. She has been awarded the Maurice Riley prize for international achievement and recently the IVS “Silver Alto Clef”, the highest distinction given by the IVS.