Viola
Biography
Juerg Daehler, born in Zurich, studied violin with Sándor Végh and Heribert Lauer and viola with Christoph Schiller and Fjodor Druschinin. Further studies followed with Pinchas Zukerman and Kim Kashkashian. After his debut at the Zurich Tonhalle with the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s viola concerto, Jürg Dähler was a guest with many renowned orchestras under conductors such as Giorgio Bernasconi, Douglas Boyd, Friedrich Cerha, Thierry Fischer, Beat Furrer, Reinhard Goebel, Heinz Holliger and Brenton Langbein, Petri Sakari, Stefan Sanderling, Heinrich Schiff, Jac van Steen, Marcello Viotti and Thomas Zehetmair. Concert tours as a soloist and in demand as a chamber musician have taken him to Australia, the USA and throughout Europe, with appearances at e.g. in the Wigmore Hall London, at the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Festival, at the City of London Festival, the Lucerne Festival, at the Venice Biennale and at the Montreux Jazz Festival. From 1984 to 2000 he was a member and leader of the legendary Zurich Chamber Musicians. In 1993 he was one of the co-founders of the Collegium Novum Zurich. From 1995 to 2008 he was director of the Festival Kultur Herbst Bündner Herrschaft. Since 1993 he has been principal violist in the Musikkollegium Winterthur orchestra and is a member of the Winterthur String Quartet. Since 1 he has been a co-founder of the directorship of the Swiss Chamber Concerts and has been in charge of the Brunegg Castle Whitsun Festival in the same capacity since 1999.
Around 30 CD productions with labels such as ECM, NEOS, Accord, Cantando, Claves, GENUIN, Grammont and Jecklin prove his extensive work between early music, classical, modern and jazz. He premiered countless solo and chamber music works, many of which are dedicated to him. He worked with composers such as Harrison Birtwistle, William Blank, Ursina Maria Braun, Charles Bodman-Rae, Friedrich Cerha, Wilfried Maria Danner, Xavier Dayer, Fjodor Druschinin, Richard Dubugnon, Pascal Dusapin, Beat Furrer, Eric Gaudibert, Stefano Gervasoni, Hermann Haller, David Philip Hefti, Hans Werner Henze, Heinz Holliger, Christian Jost, Mischa Käser, Rudolf Kelterborn, Gerd Kühr, Hans Ulrich Lehmann, György Ligeti, Roland Moser, Arvo Pärt, John Polglase, Daniel Schnyder, Nadir Vassena, Jürg Wyttenbach and Alfred Zimmerlin. He teaches violin, viola and chamber music at Kalaidos University and gives master classes at many renowned institutes such as the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the National Academy of Music in Melbourne.
In 2007 he received the Executive Master of Arts Administration EMAA summa cum laude from the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics at the University of Zurich. In 2008 he was awarded the Zolliker Culture Prize for his artistic work and his services to Switzerland as a place of culture. In 2020 he received the Swiss Music Prize for his many years of commitment to the Swiss Chamber Concerts. He plays a violin by Antonio Stradivarius (Cremona 1714) and a viola by Raffaele Fiorini (Bologna 1893).
Albums
Jürg Dähler Viola Concertos / Signatures of Life – LIVE!
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations (version for string trio)
