Mara Winter is a performer, composer and photographer who spends her time exploring the infinite braid of the past and present. Her musical journey blends a profound personal artistic ethos with a deep commitment to technical fluency in historical flutes, spanning from the Middle Ages and Renaissance through the Baroque and Classical eras. With a diverse background steeped in rigorous historical performance training and extensive engagement in international contemporary and improvisational music circles, Mara's ongoing research explores the application of physical, intuitive microtonal tuning techniques to enhance the nuances of 16th-century modal music.
Mara directs her Renaissance ensemble, Phaedrus, and is the co-founder of the multidisciplinary musical collective, The Fine Hand.
With the Baroque and Classical traverso, Mara Winter has performed with orchestras across Switzerland, Germany and the United States: J.S. Bach-Stiftung, La Scintilla (Zurich Opera), Il Gusto Barocco, Les Passions de L’Ame, Orchester le Phénix, Capriccio Barockorchester, and Pacific Musicworks, among others. In earlier repertoires, she is a regularly featured performer with internationally-recognized groups such as Sollazzo Ensemble, Cappella Pratensis, Ensemble Leones, Le Miroir de Musique, Ensemble Peregrina. Since 2020, she has served as a guest instructor of Medieval transverse flute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. In May of 2024, Mara was the guest director of the renowned Boston Camerata (USA), premiering the new concert program, 'Celestial Visions from Medieval Britain'.
Mara is also active as a composer, focusing mainly on the creation of new music for the traverso and other historical instruments. Throughout her two years of artistic research under the supervision of Caspar Johannes Walter at the Hochschüle für Musik in Basel, she completed a cycle of color-informed microtonal pieces for four flutes. Her compositions have been premiered at documenta fifteen (Kassel, DE), and Météo Festival (Mulhouse, FR), Alte Musik Friedenau/Silent Green (Berlin), and the Utrecht Early Music Festival. Her original music has been recorded and released on the labels Another Timbre (UK), INSUB records (Geneva), Discreet Editions (Basel), and Kunsthall Produktionen (Bern). In 2025, she will perform her latest work for solo medieval flute, "Ringing Dust", at the Archipel festival in Geneva, CH.