The Jazzaar Festival 2019 live recording of Remembering Bob Freedman with Ron Carter & The Jazzaar Festival Big Band received a Grammy Award nomination under the category of 'Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album".

Reto Peter was a drummer of the first iteration of Jazzaar (then called The Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra), and through a connection to Fritz Renold he went on to go to Berklee College of Music to study Music Production & Engineering. Since then, he has been making records in Europe, NYC, and the San Francisco Bay Area and is credited on Gold and Platinum albums by Green Day, Modest Mouse, The Counting Crows, Flipsyde, and many chart-topping artists from his native Switzerland.

Phil Hilfiker, a saxophonist / composer & arranger / music educator is another of our alumni that we're most proud of. His talent, wit and hard work did not fail to earn him the well deserved success he enjoys as a musician. Besides that his humility and gratitude is something we also admire about him.

Drummer/percussionist Mathias Kunzli is one of the Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra's earlier generations of young musicians that is successful in the international music scene. We're proud to feature him in this segment and wish him continued success that is well deserved.