Blasorchester Jona Wollerau

HISTORY OF THE BAND

The Jona Wollerau Orchestra is a symphonic wind orchestra which is among the best division one bands in Switzerland.

The Band was founded in the Lake Zurich area at the end of the nineteenth century. Over the past few decades the Band has reached a high artistic level thanks to its efforts and initiative in training young musicians, as well as the dedication of its latest directors: Hans Moekel, Peter Bucher and Felix Hauswirth.

Recently, the Jona Wollerau Orchestra has participated in regional and national contests, winning various first prizes in its local region. In addition to contests, the Band also performs in one-off projects with choirs, soloists and premiering new works.

At the core of the Band's activities is its work with young musicians and music schools in the local cantons of Schwyz, St. Gallen and Zurich. Before 2010 the Band had its own music school, where musicians from the orchestra taught pupils. In 2010 the regional music school was founded. Its ensembles, such as the youth band, continue to be sponsored by the Jona Wollerau Band.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE CONDUCTOR

Urs Bamert

Studied clarinet in the Conservatories of Lucerne and Zurich. Having been taught by Elmar Schmid, he received his teaching and performance degrees in 1989 and 1993 (with a commendation for chamber music and theory).

In 1997 he studied with Gerald Bennett to obtain a music theory teaching diploma.

He has given concerts with various Swiss and German professional orchestras (Basel, Lucerne, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart and Contrechamps Geneva).

He is the founder of the Swiss chamber music group, "Accento Musicale". He studied conducting with Richard Schumacher (Valsolda, Italy), Eugene Corporone (Kerkrade, Netherlands), Tsung Yeh (Zurich, Switzerland) and Kurt Masur (New York, USA).

His current roles include:

• Director of the Jona Wollerau Orchestra
• Director of the Ausserschwyz Symphony Orchestra
• Director of the Schwyz Youth Symphony Orchestra

Urs Bamert currently teachers in the Ausserschwyz Region High School and in the Swiss Academy of Music and Music Teaching. He also gives glasses to the Schwyz Canton Music Association and teaches at the St. Moritz Wind Instrument Academy. He is a highly sought-after jury member for conducting competitions. He was selected by the Swiss radio station DRS 2 to select pieces and provide information about them for a wind band program.

From 2001 to 2013, Urs Bamert was the elected president of WASBE (Switzerland), as well as the conductor of the Winterthur Symphony Orchestra. The Canton of Schwyz honored him for his work by giving him a grant to study in New York. He had been a guest conductor of the Orchestra of Italian Switzerland (OSI).