Barbara Seiler was born in 1996 and grew up in Sarmenstorf. She began taking flute lessons in 2003. Piano lessons were added later. Her musical education took her from the Rämibühl Art and Sports High School to the Zurich University of the Arts. There she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Music and graduated in summer 2020 with a Master's degree in instrumental music education, majoring in flute. She currently works at the Reusstal and Fislisbach music schools. After completing her music degree, she trained as a kindergarten teacher at the PH Zug, which now complements her field of work.

Barbara has been a section leader in the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra since 2021.

Catarina Castro was born in Portugal. She currently teaches basic music education at the Zurich Conservatory of Music and oboe at the Niederhasli Music Society. She collaborates with various orchestras in Switzerland, including the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the New Orchestra Basel and the New Zurich Orchestra.

Catarina is passionate about chamber music and is involved in various projects, for example as a member of the quintet Reeds in Motion. For the 2015/2016 season, she was principal oboist in the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, in which she now plays regularly as a guest.

She began her musical training in Portugal, at the Conservatório de Música Calouste Gulbenkian Braga in the class of José Fernando Silva. She obtained her diploma in 2011 at the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra in the class of Sally Dean and Pedro Ribeiro. She was then accepted into the class of Professor Simon Fuchs, Martin Frutiger (English horn) and Kaspar Zimmerman at the Zurich University of the Arts, where she completed her first master's degree in orchestra with honours in 2013 and her second master's degree in pedagogy in 2016.

Catarina has been a section leader in the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra since 2021.

Joel Cardoso is a clarinettist in the City Light Orchestra (KKL Lucerne) and works regularly with the Orquestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the Argovia Philharmonic. As a scholarship holder of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he completed his master's degree at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana with honours. He has even been invited to work with the Estonian National Opera and the Orchestra of the Teatro Real de Madrid. He has won more than 30 prizes and scholarships at competitions in Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Poland, Thailand and Peru.

He is Ambassadeur of the Lucerne Festival Academy and Artist of Henri Selmer Paris Clarinets, JLV Ligatures and Gonzalez Argentinian reeds. Since 2024 Joel is the new section leader of the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra.

Christian Sandgaard was born in St. Gallen and today, in addition to being a saxophonist, he is one thing above all: a thoroughbred musician. He has a wide range of musical interests, moves between styles and occasionally plays other instruments in addition to his main instrument, the saxophone. He completed his music studies at the Bern University of the Arts - majoring in saxophone with Christian Roellinger - with honours in 2022. Christian Sandgaard is active as a chamber musician (including the Lamineur Quartet), soloist, orchestral musician and instrumental teacher and is a passionate traveller throughout Switzerland. The love of expression and the variety of sounds in music is at the centre of his artistic and mediating work. His aim is to touch and inspire the people around him.

Since 2024, Christian has been the new section leader of the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra.

Fabian Grimm was born in 1996. He began his musical education in 2004 at the Sursee Region Music School and went on to study music at the HSLU Music via the Fachmittelschule Musik in Baldegg. In Michael von Schönermark's class, he completed his bachelor's degree and master's degree in music education, which he completed in summer 2022.

He began sharing his fascination for music during his studies by teaching bassoon and theory as well as conducting in the Seetal region of Lucerne and at the Sursee music school. He now also teaches at the Kerns music school and the Rothenburg music school.

In addition to his work as a music teacher, he is a freelance musician and regularly plays in the City Light Symphony Orchestra Lucerne. Fabian has been a section leader in the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra since 2022.

Keita Kitade was born in Tokyo in 1975. After graduating from the "Toho Gakuen School of Music" in Tokyo (1999), he received his orchestral diploma and completed his concert exam at the "Carl Maria von Weber" Academy of Music in Dresden (2005). From 2005-2008 he studied in the soloist class and in the postgraduate course (CAS Jazz) at the ZHDK Zurich. He attended trumpet lessons with Prof Kenji Tamiya, Prof Peter Lohse and Prof Claude Rippas, as well as jazz lessons with Daniel Schenker. He is a member of the Sinfonietta Schaffhausen and plays in numerous professional orchestras. He also teaches at various music schools in the canton of Zurich as a trumpet teacher and ensemble leader. He works as an arranger for his ensembles and his own projects. His arrangements are published by "MusicTrans".

Keita has been a section leader in the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra since 2021.

Mats Janett was born in Lysekil on the Swedish west coast in 1987. Initial studies with Malcolm Page led to a short period of study at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. However, he was soon drawn further afield and went to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he began studying with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's Prof Willibald Janezic and Wolfgang Vladar. After completing his Master's degree in 2015, Mats spent a year as deputy principal horn with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra in Denmark.

He has been based in Zurich since 2017 and works as a freelance musician. He can regularly be heard as a guest with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Festival Strings Lucerne, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, La Chapelle Ancienne and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, where he also plays various natural horns, Wagner tuba and Viennese horn.

He continues to work as a specialist in contemporary music with the New European Ensemble in The Hague and Klangforum Wien. One of his great passions is playing in ensembles and he has been the woodwind and brass instructor at the international orchestra course of the German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonic in Berlin since 2017.

Mats has been a section leader in the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra since 2022.

José Oswaldo Parra García has taken part in international competitions. He has won various awards, including second prize in the national high school soloist competition in Wil, Switzerland, third prize in the international trombone competition in Chiari, Italy, second prize in the international trombone competition in Barranquilla, Colombia, and first prize in the international trombone competition for young soloists in Santa Fe, Argentina.

He has been a member of various Venezuelan orchestras and choirs, the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra, the Venezuelan Trombone Ensemble, the Simon Bolivar Trombone Quartet, the Simon Bolivar Big Band, the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Western Plains and the Guanare Youth Orchestra, as well as a substitute with the Zurich Symphony Orchestra. He studied music and completed the Master Performance at the ZHdK, the Bachelor of Music at the Haute Ecole de Music de Fribourg cité Lausanne, studied at the Conservatoire Régional de Musique et de Danse in Paris, at the Conservatoire de Musique Simon Bolivar in Venezuela and currently works as a freelance trombonist and digital creator for his networks (ozzietrombon).

After completing her vocational training as a media designer, Irmgard Ripfel studied euphonium with Thomas Rüedi at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, where she successfully completed a teaching diploma and a master's degree in performance. She obtained a master's degree in wind music direction at the Bern University of the Arts.

The euphonist has played in the aulos Wind Orchestra, the Zurich Opera House, the Young Philharmonic Orchestra of Central Switzerland, the Lucerne Festival Academy and the Lucerne Brass Ensemble. She has performed with the Ophicleide as a member of the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble and with L'Arpa Festante. From 2010 to 2018 she was conductor of the Brass Band Musikgesellschaft Hohenrain. Irmgard Ripfel teaches at the Lenzburg and Rothrist music schools and is a member of the Brass Band Imperial Lenzburg.

Irmgard has been a section leader in the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra since 2021.

Simon Styles was born in Leicester, Great Britain, and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Stuart Roebuck. He was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado for two years. Between 1979 and 1982 he was principal tuba of the Noordholland Philharmonic Orchestra in Haarlem, Netherlands. In 1982, he joined the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, where he was principal tuba for over 40 years until his retirement in 2022. During this time, he also performed with many of the world's great orchestras, including the Philharmonia (London), the London Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, to name but a few.

Simon Styles was professor of tuba and brass ensemble at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts for 35 years, and many of his former students have held positions in orchestras in Switzerland and abroad.

During his stay in Holland he began to build his career as a soloist, with frequent appearances on Dutch television and radio as well as recital and concert performances at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and elsewhere. In 1981 he won first prize in the Yehudi Menuhin "Live Music Now" competition. As a soloist, Simon Styles has performed all over the world in cities as diverse as Chicago and Tokyo, Birmingham and Lucerne, where he gave a full recital at the Lucerne Summer Festival, the only time the tuba has ever been used as a solo instrument at this prestigious festival.

Since his retirement, Simon Styles has been an active lecturer and coaches ensembles such as the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra as well as brass and wind orchestras and gives private lessons. Since 2024, Simon has been the new section leader of the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra.

David Gurtner, born in 1987 in Winterthur, graduated in percussion and timpani from the Zurich University of the Arts with Klaus Schwärzler, Rainer Seegers and Raphael Christen and studied vocals with David Thorner. He completed his Master of Arts in Music Performance in 2015 and his Master in Music Education in 2019, both with honours.

He was a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and now regularly performs as a freelance percussionist with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the CHAARTS Chamber Artists and various other ensembles. Tours have taken him across Europe as well as to China, South Korea, Taiwan and Argentina, and various CD recordings attest to his work.

He is a member and co-managing director of the vocal ensemble The Zurich Chamber Singers and a member of the board and head of the bar at the Gaswerk cultural centre in Winterthur. Since 2019, he is also working for the Canton of Zurich as a specialised acoustic expert for music events.

Masahiro Vermeer was born in 1986 in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. He started playing the double bass in the Wind Orchestra Club at the age of 11. After graduating from high school, he first studied politics and economics in Tokyo, graduating with a bachelor's degree. He then studied double bass at the Aichi University of the Arts under Reo Watanabe. From 2013, Masahiro Vermeer then studied in Switzerland at the ZHdK and completed a Bachelor's and Master's degree under Duncan McTier. He then completed his training under Ruslan Lutsyk at the HKB Bern. Masahiro Vermeer works as a freelance double bass player in various orchestras and ensembles, such as the Sinfonietta Schaffhausen. Masahiro Vermeer also teaches double bass.

Masahiro has been a section leader in the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra since 2022.

Milena Salvatti, Italo-Brazilian cellist, started her musical career in Latin America, characterised by the intensive guidance of outstanding cellists and winning prizes at numerous competitions. Her journey led her, supported by a scholarship, to Switzerland, where she obtained her master's degree at the Bern University of the Arts under the compassionate guidance of the celebrated cellist Antonio Meneses.

With a rich experience in orchestral and chamber music repertoire, Milena is regularly invited by orchestras from Latin America and Europe. Her expressive tonal language and sensitive technique touch audiences deeply. Today she combines her artistic activities with her passion for coaching and teaches cello in the cantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell.

Viviane Nüscheler completed her master's degree in performance with honours under Prof. Sarah O'Brien at the Zurich University of the Arts in 2023, after also completing her master's degree in music education under her direction. As a soloist, she has performed with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland and the Orchesterverein Aarau, and has performed under the direction of Markus Stenz, Jonathan Stockhammer and other renowned directors.

She has won several international competitions, including 1st prize at the ‘Marcel Tournier’ competition in Italy in 2019 and 1st prize at the international competition in Finland. She is teaching at the Alato Music School since 2019.

The Zurich-based dramatic alto/mezzo-soprano earned her education and concert diploma at the Zurich University of the Arts under Professor Lena Hauser. This was followed by masterclasses with Margreet Honig, Amsterdam, Joshua Hecht, New York, KS Christa Ludwig, Vienna and Noëmi Nadelmann, Zurich.

Bettina Weder performs as a soloist at home and abroad in both concert and opera. She has made her debut as a soloist in major concert halls, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Rossini's ‘Petite Messe Solennelle’) and the Tonhalle Zurich, accompanied by the Tonhalle Orchestra (Mendelssohn's ‘First Walpurgis Night’).

The vocalist was honoured with a ‘Rotary Scholarship’ and the ‘Werner and Berti Alter’ prize. The final rounds of the ‘Torneo Internazionale di Musica’ competition also took her to Verona. She was also a finalist in the ‘Schlossoper Haldenstein’ opera competition. Bettina Weder is the winner of the ‘Richard Wagner Scholarship Bayreuth’.

www.bettinaweder.com

His enthusiasm for music and language has accompanied him from a young age. Even as a teenager, Martin Hollins could be found not only behind the music stand, but also behind the microphone. His musical journey began with the Zurich Boys' Choir, while at the same time he became fascinated by the trumpet - a hobby that he actively practised for around 30 years, most recently with the Stadtmusik Zürich.

With his communicative nature, it is not surprising that he quickly takes on the role of presenter at many music events. With charm, humour and ease, he creates a lively connection between the orchestra and the audience.

Today, the Zurich native works as a project manager in the healthcare sector. Although he now sits in the audience more often than on stage, his love of music in all its facets remains unchanged.