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Valeria Curti is a lecturer in bassoon and chamber music at the Bern Academy of the Arts and principal bassoonist with the Musikkollegium Winterthur. 

After completing her basic studies at the Brugg Music School with Patrik Lüscher, she was accepted as a young student at the Zurich University of the Arts at the age of 14. Her seven-year course of study was significantly influenced by Matthias Rácz, Marco Postinghel, Sergio Azzolini, and Daniele Galaverna. During this time, she received numerous awards and scholarships, including the prestigious Göhner Music Prize (2021), first prize at the IDRS Young Artist Competition (2015) in Tokyo, and scholarships from Migros Kulturprozent (2017) and the Friedl Wald Foundation (2013).

Today, Valeria Curti sees herself as an artist whose central concern is to present the music of every era in a lively and communicative way with her instruments and her interpretation. She does not focus on technical brilliance, but uses it to sensitively explore and present timbres, rhythms, and dynamics. In addition to her two modern bassoons, she also plays an original late Romantic Heckel bassoon from 1893, a classical bassoon, and a baroque bassoon in historical performance practice. In projects that focus on collective musical thinking—such as with ensembles such as Spira Mirabilis—she explores alternative ways of working beyond traditional hierarchical orchestral structures.

Valeria Curtis's educational work focuses on issues that deliberately go beyond purely technical perfection. As the professor of bassoon at the Bern Academy of the Arts, she guides young musicians in their search for a personal and musically compelling style of expression. She is particularly concerned with teaching her students how to deal healthily with the pressure to perform and the demand for perfection in the classical music scene, as well as with developing new concert formats.

In her free time, Valeria enjoys hiking, wild camping, horse riding, and jogging in nature. She is also a passionate collector of vintage clothing and therefore likes to rummage through thrift stores for forgotten treasures.