Reto Bieri was born in Zug, Switzerland, in 1975, and grew up listening to Swiss folk music before discovering the world of classical music. He studied the clarinet with Francois Benda in Basel and at the Juilliard School in New York with Charles Neidich. His subsequent musical development was also strongly influenced by chamber music lessons from composer György Kurtag and pianist Krystian Zimerman. In 2001 Reto won the UNESCO-sponsored International Rostrum for Young Performers award, and since then has been invited to play all over the world as a soloist and chamber musician. He plays with various orchestras, including the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra (Moscow Radio), the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Hungarian Philharmonic, Tibor Varga Festival Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Camerata Schweiz, and the Orchestra Pablo Sarasate Pamplon, and has worked with world-class conductors, including Vladimir Fedoseyev, Kurt Masur, Roger Norrington, Tibor Varga and Howard Griffiths.