About us
Gregor Hänssler
Gregor Hänssler studied violin under Emilie Haudenschild at the Basel Academy of Music and under Rudolf Koelman and Alexander Sikowetsky at the Zürich University of the Arts. He has participated in master classes with Ana Chumachenco, Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Nora Chastain, Thomas Zehetmair and the Ensemble Modern Frankfurt. Gregor Hänssler has concertized throughout Europe, in Brazil, in Iceland and in Dubai (Expo 2020), and as soloist he has appeared in the Konzerthaus of Freiburg im Breisgau and in Basel’s historic Symphony Hall. With the Atreus Piano Trio, he won 3rd prize in the Orpheus Competition and 1st prize in the Kiwanis Competition. In Fall 2018, he founded the Modulor Quartet devoted to classical and contemporary music for string quartet.
Beatrice Harmon studied violin at the Basel Academy of Music under Brigitte Füllemann and Emilie Haudenschild and, with a stipend from the Hans Huber Foundation, under Rudolf Koelman at the Zürich University of the Arts, completing her Bachelor there in 2019. Thanks to a stipend from the Friedl Wald Foundation, she completed her Master in Performance in Zurich under Anna Gebert in Summer 2022. As soloist, chamber- and orchestral-musician Beatrice Harmon has performed throughout Europe and in North and South America. She has gathered orchestral experience in the Sinfonieorchester Basel (traineeship, 2014-2016), Bern Symphony Orchestra (internship, 2020-2021) and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich (internship, 2021-2023). She is currently the concertmaster of the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Demian Herzog
Demian Herzog received early training on the violin from Jens Lohmann at the Zürich Music Conservatory and became acquainted with the viola there. Several 1st prizes in the Swiss Youth Music Competition with his string quartet quickly followed. Around the same time he started playing the piano and soon discovered his love for jazz music. A semester of Environmental Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) convinced him that Pedagogy and School Music at the Zürich University of the Arts are the more congenial career path with viola studies under Wendy Enderle-Champney. Orchestral experience as principal violist in the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra as well as in Stringendo Zürich followed. Today, Demian Herzog divides his time between chamber music (Modulor Quartet), instrumental pedagogy and school music.
Milena Umiglia
Milena Umiglia was born into a musician family and received her first cello lessons from her mother. At age 10, she began taking lessons with Rafael Rosenfeld and studied with him until obtaining the Bachelor degree at the Basel Academy of Music in 2018. Ever since, she’s been continuing her studies with Thomas Grossenbacher at the Zürich University of the Arts. Milena Umiglia has won numerous prizes, including 1st prizes at the Swiss Youth Music Competition (several of which «with distinction») and has recently received stipends from the Friedl Wald Foundation and the International Lyceum Club Zürich. She has participated in master classes with David Geringas and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and performed as «young festival artist» in the Zwischentöne festival in Engelberg, Cully Classique, and in festival quatres saisons. She gathered orchestral experience in the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra (SJSO) and, as sole Swiss member, in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (2017). As soloist she has appeared with the Neues Orchester Basel, the Collegium Musicum Zug, the Slovakian Chamber Orchestra, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Central Switzerland and the Argovia Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2018 she was finalist in the cello competition Murten Classics and in 2020 a winner of the Schenk Soloist Competition. After having reached the final for the principal cello audition at the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in 2021, she’s been given an ad interim tutti-position in the orchestra.