Coming from a family of musicians, Stefan Muhmenthaler studied violin with Ulrich Lehmann and piano with Rosemarie Stucki-Balmer at the Bern Conservatory. In 1976, he won the first prize of violin and second prize of piano in the competition of “Jeunesses Musicales Suisses”.

He continued his training in New York with Itzhak Perlman and he obtained a master degree as well as the prestigious Ludus Award. Then he improves with Vartan Manoogian, Nicolas Chumachenko and with the Tokyo String Quartet.

Stefan Muhmenthaler discovered very early his interest in the work of solo violin. At the age of eighteen, he was appointed first solo violin of the World Youth Orchestra. He then held a post in the United States in the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and in Germany at the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra.

In 1990, Armin Jordan invited him as first solo violin of the “Orchestre de la Suisse Romande”, where he played for ten years. Subsequently, Christian Zacharias hired him as the first solo violin of the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne. Currently, he is violin solo of the Freiburg Chamber Orchestra.

At the same time, he pursued a career as a soloist and chamber musician, playing with conductors such as Ferdinand Leitner, Denis Russel Davis, Shlomo Mintz, Jörg Färber and Armin Jordan. The recording of the six trios of Ignaz Lachner, the world’s first, received enthusiastic reviews.

Stefan Muhmenthaler is keen to cultivate the balance between pedagogy, chamber music and orchestral playing.

Since 1999, he teaches violin at the “Haute Ecole de Musique” in Geneva, Neuchâtel.