Origins and Musical Beginnings

I grew up in a Chilean-German family and discovered my passion for singing and viola at the age of four, shaped by my parents' music-making. After my first viola lessons in the Suzuki method, I joined my first string quartet at age ten, and chamber music became my passion. Early solo concerts and competition successes followed. Alongside this, I toured with the German National Youth Orchestra and gained my first volunteer experience as a grade-level representative. From these two experiences grew my earliest observations and thoughts on group dynamics, the psychology of larger groups, teamwork, and interpersonal communication.

Education

As a pre-college student, I began my studies with Prof. Jürgen Kussmaul, with whom I also completed my bachelor's degree. A master's degree followed at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under Marjolein Dispa and Prof. Nobuko Imai, along with masterclasses with Eberhard Feltz, Günter Pichler, Hartmut Rohde, Anner Bylsma, the Artemis Quartet, and Isabelle van Keulen, among others. Third prize at the National Viola Competition in Amsterdam and the WDR Classical Music Prize followed.

In the second year of my master's, I prepared for my first audition through training led by musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and a sports psychologist – an experience that sparked an interest in mental training and inner work that has stayed with me ever since. At 22, I won my first permanent position with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne.

New Career Paths

For eight years I was a member of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, at times also on the orchestra board. During this time I discovered yoga and began exploring the effects of body work, meditation, and other methods of neural self-regulation. A week as a substitute with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra prompted a move: in February 2020 I won my second position as Tutti Viola and have since been a permanent member of the viola section under chief conductor Alan Gilbert. That same year I found my viola, made by French luthier Patrick Robin – and, after a long search, finally found "my" voice on the instrument, a search that continues to develop.

As a substitute, I also played with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the WDR and HR Symphony Orchestras, Ensemble Resonanz, Orchestra Mozart Bologna, and the Kammerakademie Neuss am Rhein. Devoted to chamber music, I performed at international festivals and alongside outstanding musicians such as Augustin Hadelich, Antoine Tamestit, Joshua Bell, Xavier de Maistre, Nils Mönkemeyer, and the Gewandhaus Quartet. I mentored for the Bundesjugendorchester and served as a mentor for the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Academy.

During this time, my fascination with communication within the orchestra system and between artists deepened. Since then, I've been drawn to the question of how successful communication works on stage and beyond, and how one's own vision can be embodied convincingly, both verbally and nonverbally. Many inspiring conversations with internationally celebrated artists and my valued colleagues keep my engagement with these questions constantly alive.

Teaching and Coaching

In 2014, I began teaching musicians of various instruments and preparing them for performances, most recently as a mentor within the orchestra academies of the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. From two yoga teacher trainings, I developed a dedicated course for the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Academy in 2024 — tailored to the mental and physical demands of musicians and artists. In doing so, a need and a desire for holistic development beyond mere instrumental practice became apparent, and from it grew the wish to support artists — beyond their instrument, too — through deep inner processes on their way to the greatest possible integrity, authenticity, and presence.

That's why, in 2024, I began training as a systemic coach and psychological counsellor at the Integralis Institute Hamburg, and I have integrated these insights into my work ever since. I see it as my privilege to help my clients overcome inner and outer challenges on the way to their goals. It is my conviction that before all the roles we embody, we are, above all, one thing: human. And that every human being holds hidden, often unconscious resources that are essential for growth — in life as on stage. With an analytical eye, clear strategy, and effective methods, I create a space where growth becomes not just thinking, but something to be experienced.