My background

With hard work and patience to success

Since I don't come from a family of professional musicians, I faced some challenges at first. Fortunately, I've always been sort of naive when it comes to difficult obstacles and I didn't realize how big these hurdles would be.

As a stubborn Graubünden native, and also a Capricorn, I happily tackled the steep path to the summit. Those who have to find their own way often find themselves on detours and wrong paths, but by the time they're done, they know their terrain inside and out. If you want to know more about my musical journey, please read on...

My musical biography

Arosa - Nature and Mountains

1980-2016

My childhood was shaped by the beautiful, rugged mountains of Graubünden, by pine forests, animals, snow, and rocks. My musical education was entirely intuitive, based on what nature or my family inspired me at the time.

I have always successfully rejected offers to seek the help of a teacher, with the exception of a few years of recorder lessons.
My strongest musical influence was my father, who played the "Schnorre-Giige" excellently and, above all, was a wonderful natural yodeler.

Chur - classical music

2016 - 2001

Attending the cantonal school took me to the city of Chur. There I found my first double bass teacher, Andrea Thöny, who noticed and encouraged my musical talent.

He immediately put me in a string ensemble. The first classical work I encountered there was Bach's The Art of Fugue, arranged for strings. Not a bad start for a budding musician.

Basel - the jazz school

2001 - 2008

I studied double bass in Basel with Bänz Oester and Harald Friedrich. This exposed me to two major currents of Western musical culture: classical music and jazz. Jazz taught me to freely improvise through forms and rhythms, while classical music opened the door to the wonderful organism of the orchestra and the great composers of the last four hundred years.

And in Basel I got to know the world of art and culture better.

Basel - the piano

Basel - Teaching

After graduating, I began my career as a professional musician, and I hit a major crisis. I felt like something was missing, and that's when I decided to take up the piano. Four strings weren't enough for me.

I practiced like a maniac, but quite inefficiently, reading through the most important pedagogical works and collections of etudes.

Step by step I progressed and over the years I realized how I could practice better, more efficiently and more relaxed.

And I realized again - it's not as easy as I thought.

2008 - present

Today I love teaching and I put my heart and soul into it, encouraging people to believe in themselves, not to give up and to get the best out of themselves.

All the processes and knowledge of my life path described above flow into my teaching and I pass on what I can.

today