Roots

Music has always been a part of my life. Not only do I play the flute, I also listen to all kinds of music, but still mainly classical in my private time.

My love of music began with my mother often singing everywhere she went, my listening to music on the radio and also to Swiss folk music, and hearing my father playing the piano. I remember how exciting it was to me to experience Beethoven 5, Mozart “Magic Flute” and “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”, which were the only records we had. My family sang together often, when we were in the kitchen, in the yard on a hike, and eventually in the car.

At bedtime, my mother read or told us stories, sometimes ones she invented in the moment. She was a fantastic storyteller, and my sisters and I hung on her every word. After storytime, she left us alone to sleep, and I often heard my father play the piano. He played Vienna Salon music like “When the Grandmother met the Grandfather” which was a well-known tune. During the day, we begged him to play “The Little and the Grown Up Camel” – later on, as I became a flute student at age 12, he at home played with me for my first collaboration with piano.

With 12 I was a proud student of the first woman who graduated from the Zuerich Conservatory, Sunna Gerber (the daughter of the famous man, who invented the Bircher Muesli…!!). She was a student of well-known French flutist Andre Jaunet, who was teaching at Zuerich Conservatory and was Principal of the Zuerich Tonhalle Orchestra. I am equally happy to have studied with Jaunet’s successor and student Guenter Rumpel. Rumpel was a student of Gaston Crunelle and Fernand Cartage in Paris. I got my undergrad degree (flute teacher degree) from Guenter Rumpel. And finally, I was very honored to study and receive my artist diploma under the famous Aurèle Nicolet (also a Jaunet and Moyse student) in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. How lucky I was to get to learn from these legendary flutists in the flute family tree!

Coming to the United States was a dream since I was quite young, in my late teens – I do not remember exactly when, but it was very important to me. Finally, it happened: I became Visiting Assistant Professor at Florida State University (FSU) College of Music before winning the tenure track position one year later! I never thought I would be here for 20 years and more in that first year, but FSU is where I retired from in 2021! In the very end I’m happy to be able to share much of my Swiss heritage and French flute legacy, along with my knowledge and experience of many years of flute playing, teaching and “being alive” wherever I go. But to teach and educate at FSU College of Music and work with all of these fabulous students - what a privilege! Even when keeping the ties to my family and friends in Europe was often a stretch, my US career also is till today very rewarding and enriches my personal and professional life.

You may ask why I stayed in Tallahassee and at FSU. It was curiosity, my urge to keep learning and a certain spirit of adventure – but ultimately what kept me, are my colleagues at the College of Music and the spirit of the College itself. I found like-minded people, endless possibilities, and a few special close friends. I like the City of Tallahassee with its Spanish moss and Southern charm. I love all the National Nature Parks, the Gulf of Mexico and the Forgotten Coast of Florida, the Atlantic Ocean, Wakulla Springs, Sinkholes and Mission St Louis. This enriches my life – and after my retirement from FSU I am still so lucky to be able to go back and forward and combine both worlds in my small life.