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The Swiss ensemble CHAARTS considers itself the largest string quartet in the world. Modelled on the Lucerne Festival Orchestra founded by Claudio Abbado in 2003, CHAARTS has invited members of internationally successful string quartets such as the Schumann Quartet, Casal Quartet, Galatea Quartet, Cherubini Quartet, Kaleidoscope Quartet, Carmina Quartet, Julia Fischer Quartet, Gémeaux Quartet, Stradivari Quartet as well as members of successful chamber ensembles, soloists, concertmasters and solo wind players from leading European orchestras since 2010. Based at the legendary concert location Künstlerhaus Boswil in Switzerland, musicians in ensembles of 8 up to 40 players develop special concert programs, not infrequently according to the motto ‘the big small and the small big’, i.e. chamber music versions of works for large orchestra in small or, for example, string quartets with large ensembles. This makes these masterpieces newly accessible and playable in venues or concert series that would otherwise not be able to present this music. CHAARTS works regularly with the Hungarian conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy and has performed with great success with musicians such as Martha Argerich, Vilde Frang, Ian Bostridge, Sebastian Bohren, Giovanni Sollima, Mischa Maisky, Roby Lakatos, Fazil Say, Regula Mühlemann, David Orlowsky, Felix Klieser and the King’s Singers. CHAARTS is substantially supported by the Swisslos Fund of the Canton Aargau. REHA Rheinfelden has been a sponsoring partner of the ensemble since the beginning.

Photocredit: Balazs Borocz

After studying music education and voice with coloratura soprano Sylvia Geszty, Marlis Petersen began her operatic career in 1994 at the Städtische Bühnen Nürnberg, followed by an engagement at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1998. Since 2003, she has performed internationally as a lyric soprano, gaining acclaim above all for her portrayal of Berg’s Lulu, which she sang in ten different productions across Europe and the U.S., including at the Bavarian State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera – both available on DVD. Her key roles include the Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Marietta (Die tote Stadt), Strauss’s Salome, and major contemporary roles such as Aribert Reimann’s Medea (world premiere 2010, Vienna State Opera) and Jörg Widmann’s Arche (2017, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg). Petersen is also a sought-after concert artist, appearing with renowned orchestras and baroque ensembles worldwide. Upcoming roles include Emilia Marty (The Makropulos Affair) and her first Wagner parts. In recent years, she has devoted herself passionately to the art of song, giving acclaimed recitals both solo and with her vocal quartet, at venues such as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Pierre Boulez Saal, Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and London’s Wigmore Hall. Her song trilogy DIMENSIONEN presents a unique, immersive approach to Lied programming. In the 2019/20 season, Petersen was named “Singer of the Year” for the fourth time by Opernwelt for her role as Marietta in Munich, and received the 2020 Opus Klassik Award for her CD INNENWELT.

Photocredit: Yiorgos Mavropoulos

Fascinated by the relationship between sound and image, she combines a background in violin with composition and film scoring, earning a Master’s degree with highest honors. Her work spans chamber music, analog electronics, and studio production, exploring sound as an immersive architecture of time. Her debut album Muqataea (2021, Whales Records), directed by Giovanni Sollima, was followed by Utopia Aerial View (2022, with Moog Music) and The Geometry of Time (2024, Neue Meister). She performs across Europe at festivals and venues including Opera Prima, Blaues Rauschen, Superbooth, and the Colosseum Berlin. She has contributed to soundtracks such as Lubo (Venice Film Festival competition) and Death Is a Problem for the Living (Rome Film Festival), and received the Culture Moves Europe grant in 2024 for a Berlin residency. She is currently a PhD researcher in contemporary composition and curator of The Sonic Atelier, a platform featuring leading composers. Her work unfolds between reality and imagination - an invitation into hidden worlds.