Swiss Chamber Soloists

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, […]

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 […]

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, […]

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

The Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts wins over audiences with his incredibly skillful playing and sensitive 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 […]

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 […]

Sarah Wegener

Soprano

Sarah Wegener approaches every role with intensity, as if it were chamber music. She captivates listeners with the richness and warmth of her voice, in performances such as Mahler’s 8thh Symphony under Kirill Petrenko in Bregenz, Eliahu Inbal in Hamburg and Kent Nagano in Montreal, as well as in her War and Peace programme shaped […]

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 […]

Diego Chenna

Bassoon

Diego Chenna studied with V. Menghini at the Turin Music Conservatoire and with Sergio Azzolini at the MHS in Stuttgart. In those same years, he played with the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchester and the European Union Youth Orchestra directed by Claudio Abbado, who had invited him to play in Lucerne Festival Orchestra and to cooperate […]

Thorsten Johanns

Clarinet

Clarinetist Thorsten Johanns is highly sought after and esteemed in equal measure for his stylistic versatility and keen communication skills as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, and teacher. Aged only 22, he received his first engagement in 1998 as deputy principal clarinet in Essen Philharmonic whilst still a student of Ralph Manno at Cologne […]

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 […]

Hiroko Sakagami

Piano

Pianist Hiroko Sakagami lives in Switzerland. She spent her childhood and student years in her home country, Japan. Hiroko had her first piano lessons at the age of six. Indeed, from an early age, she had resolved to become a professional pianist. After studying music at high school she graduated in music at the Tokyo […]

Muriel Cantoreggi

Violin

Muriel Cantoreggi studied the violin with Regis Pasquier, Wiktor Libermann and Christoph Poppen. In 1993, she was the laureate of the international Marguerite Long and Jacques Thibaud competitions. She served as first solo violin of the European Union Youth Orchestra from 1994 to 1996 and as first solo violin of the Münchener Kammer–Orchester from 1995 […]

Tomoko Akasaka

Viola

Tomoko Akasaka is a versatile violist who is appreciated for her extraordinary charisma and stage presence as soloist and chamber musician. She won numerous international awards, including the first prize at the 12th International “Japan Classical Music Competition” and the 3rd prize at the 53rd International Music Competition of ARD (2004). She has appeared as soloist […]

Rosanne Philippens

Violin

Rosanne Philippens is an extraordinary communicator, with an innate musicality and an infectiously joyful yet sincere approach to music-making. She is in high demand across the Netherlands where she performs regularly in the major halls and series both as soloist and chamber musician. She is also a keen play/director and recently made her debut with […]

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. […]

Barbara Zanichelli

Soprano

Parma-born soprano Barbara Zanichelli‘s favorite repertoire includes both contemporary and early music. She performs as a soloist or with vocal ensembles such as the Athestis Chorus and worked with conductors like Claudio Cavina, Ottavio Dantone, Vittorio Parisi, Luca Pianca, Pál Németh, Jeffrey Tate, Eliahu Inbal, Riccardo Muti, Neeme Järvi, Thierry Fischer, Myung-whun Chung, Barthold Kuijken, […]

Joël Marosi

Violoncello

Cäcilia Chmel

Violoncello

Cäcilia Chmel Geboren in Bregenz, nach Matura Beginn des Cellostudiums an der Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien bei Prof. Tobias Kühne. Lehrbefähigungs- und Solistendiplom mit Auszeichnung. Ein Austauschstipendium und ein Stipendium des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Kunst ermöglichten ein weiteres Studium bei Frans Helmerson am renommierten Musikinstitut Edsberg in Stockholm. Nach dem […]

Benjamin Appl

Baritone

Hailed as ‘the most promising of today’s up-and-coming song recitalists’ (Financial Times), baritone Benjamin Appl is celebrated by audiences and critics alike for a voice that ‘belongs to the last of the old great masters of song’ with ‘an almost infinite range of colours’ (Suddeutsche Zeitung), ‘exacting attention to text’ (New York Times), and artistry […]