Professors

Heinz Holliger

Oboe

Heinz Holliger was born in Langenthal (Switzerland, canton of Berne) on 21 May 1939. During his grammar-school education he already studied oboe with Emile Cassagnaud at the Conservatoire of Berne and composition with Sándor Veress. From 1958 he continued his studies with Yvonne Lefébure (piano) and Pierre Pierlot (oboe) in Paris. Between 1961 and 1963 […]

Jürg Dähler

Viola

Jürg Dähler, born in Zurich, completed his studies on the violin and the viola at the Music Academy in Zurich with the highest honours. Various prizes and scholarships enabled further studies with Sándor Vegh, Pinchas Zukerman, Kim Kashkashian and Fjodor Druzhinin. That was followed by influential encounters with artists such as Brenton Langbein, Heinz Holliger, […]

Daniel Haefliger

Violoncello

A versatile musician, Daniel Haefliger is as renowned as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher as he is as organizer, lecturer and translator, and has also initiated numerous educational and musicology projects. As a cello player, trained by Pierre Fournier and André Navarra, he has performed regularly in important music centres such as Berlin, London, […]

Felix Renggli

Flute

Felix Renggli was born in Basel/Switzerland and studied the flute with Gerhard Hildenbrand, Peter-Lukas Graf and Aurèle Nicolet. He gave up his chair as a solo flautist with the Symphony Orchestra of St. Gallen, to start a freelance career in the same position with several orchestras in Europe (Tonhalle Zürich, Festival Orchestra Lucerne, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Chamber […]

Thomas Zehetmair

Violin

Thomas Zehetmair’s ability to skillfully blend his musical interests is unparalleled. He enjoys widespread international acclaim not only as a violinist, but also a conductor and chamber musician, making him one of the most prominent artistic personalities of today. Since the 2019/20 season he is Chief Conductor of the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester as well as from […]

Ilya Gringolts

Violin

  Ilya Gringolts wins over audiences with his highly virtuosic playing and sophisticated interpretations and is always seeking out new musical challenges. As a sought-after soloist, Ilya Gringolts devotes himself to the great orchestral repertoire as well as to contemporary and rare works; he is also interested in historical performance practices. His concert programmes include […]

Ruth Killius

Viola

Ruth Killius studied with Ulrich Koch and Kim Kashkashian and was principal viola player of the Camerata Bern. She played as soloist with renowned orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Camerata Salzburg, Basler Sinfonie Orchester, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Symphony […]

Peter Laul

Piano

Peter Laul was born in St.Petersburg in 1977 . In 2000 he graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatoire (class of Alexander Sandler) He is a laureate of international competitions: 1995  – the 3rd prize and the special prize for the best performance of Bach  at the  International piano competition in Bremen; 1997 – […]

Irene Abrigo

Violin

Winner of the 2015 Respighi Prize 2015, Irene Abrigo has made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2016 with the Chamber Orchestra of New York, performing the NY première of the violin concerto by Dirk Brossé “Black, White and in Between”. In 2016 she also performs in Brazil the south America première of the Respighi’s Violin […]

Anton Kernjak

Piano and Harpsichord

The pianist Anton Kernjak comes from a Slovenian-speaking Austrian family. As a sought-after chamber musician, he performs in various duo and trio formations, maintaining an active concert career in Europe, Canada, the USA, and Japan. His engagements have taken him, for example, to the Tonhalle Zürich, the Konzerthaus Berlin, to the WDR in Cologne, to […]

Christian Lampert

Horn

Christian Lampert was educated by the horn professors Francesco Raselli (Basel), Mahir Cakar (Stuttgart) and Erich Penzel (Cologne). He received various awards, among them the prizes in the International Music Competition in Markneukirchen, as well as the German National Music Competition in Bonn.Prof. Christian Lampert was educated by the horn professors Francesco Raselli (Basel), Mahir […]

François Benda

Clarinet

François Benda was born in Brazil, but his musical roots are in Europe. François Benda’s international career began in 1988, when he debuted as a clarinet soloist at Zurich’s prestigious concert venue Tonhalle and at the Victoria Hall in Geneva. In 1991 François Benda was awarded the Premio internationale per le Arti dello Spettaccolo in […]

Diego Chenna

Bassoon

Diego Chenna studied bassoon with V. Menghini at the Conservatory of Music in Turin and with Sergio Azzolini at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart. At the same time, he was a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchester as well as the European Union Youth Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado, who also invited him to play […]

Zehetmair-Quartett

String Quartet

Founded in 1994 by Austrian violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair, the Zehetmair Quartet ranks among the world’s finest string quartets. Highlights of previous seasons include a complete Schumann Cycle at Wigmore Hall, the premiere of Heinz Holliger’s string quartet, commissioned by Köln Musik for the ZehetmairQuartet; performances at major venues and festivals including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, […]

Lily Francis

Viola

Lily Francis is a violinist and violist who performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2009, she was a prizewinner at the ARD Music Competition in Munich and has appeared with some of Germany’s leading orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and the Munich Radio Orchestra. In 2008, […]

Jakub Jakowicz

Violin

Jakub Jakovicz learned violin with his father, Krzysztof, with whom he studied at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He was also the last pupil of Tadeusz Wroński. In 1998, to an invitation from Krzysztof Penderecki, he performed the composer’s Capriccio under the baton of Jerzy Maksymiuk at the Penderecki Festival in Cracow. […]

Leonid Zurkov

Oboe

The Russian oboist Leonid Surkov was born in 2000 in Moscow. He began his musical training at the age of seven and continued his studies at the Gnessin School of Music in Moscow under Denis Osver. Since 2019, he has studied at the Berlin University of the Arts in the class of Washington Barella. During […]

Matthias Würsch

Percussion

Matthias Würsch studied at the Basel Musik-Akademie where he got his soloist diploma; then he improved himself with Jean-Pierre Drouet in Paris. He used to play with many orchestras such as The Basler Kammerensemble, Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva), The B.E.A.M., Ensemble Phoenix (Basel) and still Basel Concertino. As a soloist, he was invited to […]

Emmanuel Pahud

Flute

French and Swiss flautist Emmanuel Pahud enjoys an extensive international career as soloist and chamber musician. He appears regularly in concert series, festivals and with orchestras worldwide, collaborating with conductors such as Antonini, Barenboim, Boulez, Fischer, Gergiev, Gardiner, Harding, Järvi, Nézét-Séguin, Pinnock, Rattle and Zinman. Emmanuel gives recitals with pianists Eric Le Sage, Alessio Bax, […]

Sebastian Braun

Violoncello

Sebastian Braun was born in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1990. He received his first cello lessons with Emanuel Rütsche at the age of five. He subsequently began his Music studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern in 2006. From 2007 onwards Sebastian studied with Conradin Brotbek at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart […]

Winterthurer Streichquartett

String Quartet

Winterthurer Streichquartett Bogdan Božović Violin Francesco Sica Violin Jürg Dähler Viola Sebastian Braun Violoncello

Sarah Wegener

Soprano

Sarah Wegener brings captivating intensity to every role she performs. With her warm timbre, she has thrilled audiences in orchestral songs by Strauss under Mariss Jansons and Vladimir Jurowski, in Strauss’s Four Last Songs conducted by Daniel Harding, and in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony under the batons of Kirill Petrenko, Vasily Petrenko, James Conlon, Eliahu Inbal, […]

Götz Payer

Piano

The pianist Götz Payer has performed in concert with more than 80 singers, including Sarah Wegener, Mojca Erdmann, Sibylla Rubens, Esther Dierkes, Samantha Gaul, KS Helene Schneiderman, Angela Brower, Deniz Uzun, Thilo Dahlmann, Cornelius Hauptmann, Konrad Jarnot, Björn Bürger, Johannes Held, Julian Prégardien, Andreas Weller, and James Wagner. His chamber music partners have included, among […]

Elizaveta Ivanowa

Flute

Elizaveta Ivanova is, since 2022, Associate Principal Flute of Frankfurt Opera and Museum orchestra and previously, from 2017 to 2022, she held the same position at the St. Petersburg symphonic orchestra. Born in 1997 in Estonia in a musical family, Elizaveta started studying music very early. After some years of piano lessons, she began to […]

Nolwenn Bargin

Piccolo

Nolwenn Bargin is a Franco-Swiss flutist originally from Brittany whose interest in the flute was sparked at a very young age. After starting her studies in Paris at the age of 11 in Sophie Cherrier’s class, she was admitted to Jean-Claude Gérard’s class at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart at the age of 19, graduating five years […]

Sophie Klussmann

Soprano

With a voice that is warm, wide-ranging and dark-hued, and commanding a repertoire that extends from the baroque to the present day, German-born soprano Sophie Klussmann is in demand as a concert singer, as a recitalist and on the opera stage. In recent seasons her engagements have included a world tour of Mozart concert arias […]

Daniel Borovitzky

Piano

Daniel Borovitzky was born in 1991 in Samara, Russia, and immigrated with his family to Israel at the age of three. He has toured North and South America, Europe, and the Far East as a soloist and chamber musician. As a soloist, he has performed under Zubin Mehta at the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel […]

Emanuel Abbühl

Oboe

Emanuel Abbühl, born in Berne, Switzerland, studied with André Lardrot and Heinz Holliger. He has received many awards and was a prize winner at the international competitions in Geneva and Prague. He was principal oboist with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and from 2006 to 2015 held the same position with the […]

Conrad Steinmann

Flute

Born 1951 in Switzerland, Conrad Steinmann studied recorder at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Hans-Martin Linde. 1972 Winner of the 1st International Recorder Competition in Bruges (Belgium). Based in Winterthur since 1974. 1975–1982 Lecturer at the Zurich Academy of Music. 1982 Appointed lecturer at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. 1991 Awarded the Art Prize of […]

Florent Héau

Clarinet

Juliane Banse

Soprano

With her diverse and extensive repertoire, few artists of her generation are as successful as soprano Juliane Banse. Her operatic repertoire ranges from the Marschallin, Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi, Donna Elvira, Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Genoveva (title role), Leonore, to Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Arabella and Grete (Schreker’s Der ferne Klang). Her artistic breakthrough came […]

Tjasha Gafner

Harp

Tjasha Gafner, a harpist born in 1999 in Switzerland, graduated from the Juilliard School in New York under Nancy Allen after obtaining a Master Soloist degree with Letizia Belmondo at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne. In September 2023, Tjasha won both the 1st Prize and the Audience Award at the prestigious ARD Competition […]

Kirill Zvegintsov

Piano

Kirill Zvegintsov was invited to take part in the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Davos Festival, Festival Piano à Saint-Ursanne, Murten Classics, Musikfestival Bern, SeetalClassics, Musiksommer am Zürichsee; he performed in such famous concert halls as salle Cortot/Paris, Naxoshalle in Frankfurt am Main, Mannheim National Theater and Casino Berne among others. Kirill Zvegintsov is a multiple prize-winner of […]

Geneviève Strosser

Viola

urriculum Vitae Geneviève Strosser is one of the most interesting viola players of today. As a soloist, she performs with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony , the Gewandhaus Leipzig , Ensemble Resonanz, NDR Elbphilharmonie, the Tokyo Symphony , La Verdi Milano, SWR, WDR, Residentie Orchester Den Haag, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de […]

Gilles Vonsattel

Piano

A “wanderer between worlds” (Lucerne Festival), “immensely talented” and “quietly powerful pianist” (New York Times), Swiss-born American Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of extraordinary versatility and originality. Comfortable with and seeking out an enormous range of repertoire, Vonsattel displays a musical curiosity and sense of adventure that has gained him many admirers. Recipient of an […]

Sarah O’Brien

Harp

Sarah O’Brien is an extraordinarily versatile harpist who proves that the harp is no longer to be confined to a narrow Romantic frame but has a voice of its own, from baroque to contemporary literature. Sarah O’Brien has been principal harpist with the royal Concertgebouw orchestra Amsterdam and the Munich philharmonic for over 20 years. […]

Merel Quartett

String Quartet

Merel Quartett Mary Ellen Woodside Violine Edouard Mätzener Violine Alessandro D’Amico Viola Rafael Rosenfeld Violoncello

Vesselina Kasarova

Mezzosoprano