As an English studies graduate, I wrote for many years for numerous Swiss magazines and newspapers such as the Zurich “Kulturtipp”, “Facts” and the “Weltwoche”, for which I still work. I deal above all with contemporary and classic British literature, the visual arts and historical subjects. I also travel regularly to the British Isles, whose exciting diversity offers me new surprises every time – politically, culturally and gastronomically. I am particularly taken with the rural counties, whether in the south from Kent to Cornwall or in the north with Yorkshire or Durham. I enjoy sharing my knowledge of Great Britain and am always delighted when I can kindle “English fever” in others.

I am a true Berliner, born and raised in East Berlin. Even at school I had a fondness for history and literature. I enjoyed exploring the Berlin surroundings with their many parks, castles and palaces. After my school-leaving exams, I studied history at Humboldt University. I consciously experienced the fall of the Wall and the reunification of Germany and seized the opportunity to work independently in the field of special cultural and study tours through Eastern Europe and central and eastern Germany. In historical terms, I am particularly interested in Prussian and contemporary history, also because I myself have experienced in my life how differently historical events can be interpreted. I look forward to describing my personal experiences to you as a contemporary witness.

I have been leading tours in Jersey since the 1990s. The island is an ideal place for nature lovers and impresses with its rich vegetation, thanks to the Gulf Stream. Wide sandy beaches invite you to stroll by the sea. I like the south and the west best, with St. Aubin’s Bay and St. Ouen’s Bay. I like to eat the locally bred lobster, which is not expensive and is offered in St. Helier.

Schleswig-Holstein, the land of horizons – this is the region where I am at home, and for some time now I have been bringing the magic of my Frisian homeland closer to many guests from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Among other things, I tell how the islands and Halligen off the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein came into being. Other topics include the interplay of ebb and flood tides and the Wadden Sea, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site only a few years ago.

As a historian and author, I have been engaged very intensively for 40 years with the personality of Britain’s wartime prime minister Winston Churchill and with the history of the Second World War in general. On this tour I bring the country, people and culture of Great Britain and France closer to you, but above all also the dramatic history of the years 1939 to 1945, when the course was set for today’s Europe.

Her great love is opera. Consequently, Margitta Cantarell began her classical vocal studies at the Hogeschool voor Muziek in Enschede and completed them with distinction at the State Conservatoire in Sofia. She conveys her fascination with the special timbre of voices, the music, and the often so tragic inner conflict and passion of opera characters with enthusiasm and attention to detail … and she loves travelling!

Opera and concerts accompany me daily in my work as a music dramaturge and as a freelance author and introductory lecturer. I have gained experience at the Basel Symphony Orchestra, Theater Basel and Zurich Opera House, among others. At the University of Basel I studied musicology and English – and in my spare time I love playing the piano and violin. Since 2022 I have been accompanying music tours with Car Rouge. Exciting productions and the musical-historical background of composers never cease to delight me!

Even as a child I regularly and happily came into contact with music and the stage. Later I decided that having all this as a hobby was not enough for me and that I wanted to pursue it professionally too. So I started singing lessons early, and in summer 2020 I will complete my Bachelor’s in classical singing with Malin Hartelius at the Bern University of the Arts. For years, alongside my studies and school, I have very much enjoyed working in the hospitality trade.
Music tours combine my two greatest passions: music, of course, but also travelling. I like inspiring other people with new cities, operas and musicians. As a music tour guide, I can share my joy in music with many interested people and see, hear and experience new things with them.

Having grown up in Graz (Austria), I was able to sing children’s roles in opera myself at an early age. In 11 years of music studies (recorder, cornett and music education) in Graz, Salzburg and Basel, I gathered all sorts of things for my musical life. My varied everyday life is shaped by music in many forms. I am the choir director of the Pratteln Women’s Choir, teach recorder at music schools and regularly give concerts on my instruments in different line-ups. I particularly like to see music in the context of its origins and try to gain insights into the time and place where it was composed. In my free time I find nothing lovelier than travelling, and so working as a tour guide is the perfect combination of my passions.

After my studies in singing and music education in the USA and Basel, I performed extensively in Switzerland and abroad in a wide variety of formations. In parallel, I taught music at all school levels and founded the concert series “Sonarelli – interactive concerts for children”, which now performs successfully at numerous festivals across Switzerland, including the Bachfest Schaffhausen. Since my student days in Basel I have been travelling with Car Rouge, combining my passions in this work: love of music, travel and encounters with people.

Having grown up in St Petersburg, I studied at the conservatoire there. This was followed by piano studies with Laszlo Gyimesi at the Basel University of Music, which I completed in 1996 with a concert diploma. I also took masterclasses with Rudolf Buchbinder and Alexis Weissenberg and took part successfully in international competitions. I perform as a soloist, chamber musician and song accompanist and create musical-literary projects with various actors. I also teach at my piano school in Basel and work as a church musician at Basel Minster. My discography includes works by Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Haydn and Mendelssohn. Since 2006 I have worked as a music tour guide for Car Rouge. I enjoy continuing my own education while passing on my knowledge to an audience interested in music.

As a trained opera singer, I have so far been able to enjoy a varied, international and exciting “life in opera” from all sides – as a singer, lecturer, coach, artists’ agent, mainly as general manager and artistic director of opera houses in the USA, and now as an independent consultant and producer. The combination of all the arts on and behind the stage, together with the magical exchange with a live audience, fascinates me anew every time. What I enjoy most, though, is sharing my love of opera with others. So I now look forward to discovering old and new works with you and to exchanging ideas about opera, singing, culture, food and much more as we travel together.   

From an early age, fine food and indulgence have run like a red thread through my life. For me, enjoyment means living consciously and in the moment. After studying business and holding various positions in marketing, I finally gained a foothold in the gourmet trade. So I have arrived where I belong. Today I can pass on my expertise as a wine academic as a lecturer, tour companion and head of a vinoteca in Bern. For me, wine unites nature, culture and pleasure in a unique way, and radiates a constancy like almost no other product. Especially in our fast-moving, digitalised world, it is a value that is gaining in importance. And where better to experience such a fascinating delicacy than directly at its place of origin, together with the right dishes and stories? I look forward to many shared moments of enjoyment!

My love of wine was kindled during a longer stay in Valais while I was training in tourism management. It was a fascinating time of rediscovering forgotten grape varieties, and I realised how profound the world of wine is – that made me curious for more. Over the years I shaped national wine fairs before deepening my passion in organising exclusive boutique events around food and wine. Today I also pass on my knowledge and enthusiasm as a wine academic in seminars and masterclasses, and I enjoy working as an official “Rioja Wine Educator” too. What fascinates me about wine is the magic behind it: from an unassuming, gnarled vine, thanks to a winemaker’s craftsmanship, a masterpiece of impressive complexity and depth can emerge, one you will never forget for the rest of your life. That captivates me anew every time.

I spent the first twenty years of my life in Florence. As the daughter and granddaughter of a hotelier family, I learned to appreciate hospitality and contact with people very early on. After training at the tourism college in Zurich, I worked for a few years at the Automobile Club of Switzerland until my first child was born. Since 1998 I have worked in sales at trade fairs and events for the company Bindella Weine. You can meet me, for example, every year at Expovina in Zurich. For five years I accompanied groups of wine lovers on wine tours to Italy. I enjoy making people happy and whisking them away to another world for a few days. Away from the daily grind, you can devote yourself carefree to the beautiful things in life: good wine, fine food, new contacts, stimulating conversations, funny moments, beautiful landscapes and warm hospitality. I look forward to making you happy too and giving you unforgettable moments!

Through my hospitality training and during my first working years in top-end hotels, I quickly found joy and pleasure in wine. In 1989 I founded the wine merchant Jeggli Weine, and ever since I have devoted myself with great heart and enthusiasm to independent wines of character. With us you will find great wines from many corners of the world, but not the kind you can find on every corner. I stand for high quality, enjoyable wine culture and authenticity. Our wines come from smaller winemakers and estates, most of whom I have known personally for many years from visits and repeated meetings. And so I only offer wines that I enjoy drinking myself and am absolutely enthusiastic about – so I can inspire you too!

In the fourth generation, I run the wine house Weinvogel SA Vogel on Weinbergstrasse in Zurich, originally specialising in wines from South Tyrol and neighbouring Trentino. After completing business studies at the University of Fribourg and a few years in banking, I joined my father’s wine trading business in 2007. After some time I was able to extend the range to all of Italy, without losing the focus on South Tyrolean wines. Our family is especially connected to South Tyrol through our own Premstallerhof estate in St. Magdalena near Bolzano. Alongside my profession, or rather my passion for good wines, I sit on the city parliament of Zurich.

Chandra Kurt is one of Switzerland’s leading wine writers. She studied at the universities of Zurich and Lausanne, as well as at the Institute of Masters of Wine in London. Chandra Kurt has written more than 20 books on wine, including “Reisen mit Wein” and “Chasselas – Von Féchy bis Dézaley”. Since 2015 she has also been the editor of the quarterly wine magazine “Weinseller Journal”. Kurt works nationally and internationally as a wine consultant and is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers in London, the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne and the Confrérie du Guillon. She lives in Zurich.