Alf Richard Kraggerud is one of the most successful and respected violin teachers in Scandinavia.  His students have won numerous international prizes over the past twenty years.  Several of his protégées presently enjoy extensive careers, performing with major orchestras, participating in prestigious festivals, as well as appearing frequently in the media, both nationally in Norway and abroad.  One of the first to receive Mr. Kraggerud’s mentoring in practicing skills was his younger brother, Henning Kraggerud, today considered one of the most interesting and exhilarating violinists of his generation. In 1992, after having completed his studies in pedagogy and violin with honors at the renowned Barratt Due Institute of Music (Oslo, Norway), he continued to study conducting in London (classes at the Royal Academyand Morley College). In 1999 he assumed responsibilities for the talent section (pre-school) of the  Barratt Due Institute of Music, an institution at the international forefront of musical education.  Presently, he is the co-director of Barratt Due. Alf Richard Kraggerud is the founder and co-director of the Valdres Sommersymfoni in Norway (initiated in 1994).

He has been a member of the faculty of the Astona International Summer Music Academy from 2002 to 2008 and again since 2016. IIn September 2026, he took over the musical direction from Nancy Chumachenco. 

Joonas Pitkänen has joined Astona 2023 and has been appointed as Assistant Musical Director in September 2026

Go to faculty to read more about Joonas Pitkänen. 

Christoph Balmer was born (1953) and grew up in Zug. He began to play the cello at the age of 9 and ever since then, he has always played in orchestras, sometimes as leader of the section. He is member of the Zug Symphony Orchestra, an excellent amateur orchestra, 1996 - 2020 under the baton of the former Astona conductor Jonathan Brett Harrison, since 2021 under the baton of the actual Astona conductor Joonas Pitkänen. Balmer was as the co-founder 1995 - 2020 president of the Zug Cultural Society, the organisation which oversees all cultural institutions and artists in Zug. For over 20 years he was a member of the Music School Commission of the City of Zug. 

As a professional bookshop and book wholesale distributor, Christoph Balmer was the head of the family business into which he was born for over 30 years. Today he is co-owner and Chairman of Bücher Balmer Inc., comprised of two branches in Zug and Steinhausen. Through his extensive professional and voluntary activities, Christoph Balmer is strongly involved in the cultural, political and business world in the region of Zug, which is of benefit to Astona. He is responsible for accommodation, logistics, finances, sponsoring, advertising and concert organization. He joined Astona in 2010.

Raphaël Vergères was a member of Astona International from 2001 to 2009 as Coordinator and House Father.and came back to Astona in 2017. 

He studied violin at the Conservatory in Neuchâtel with Jan Dobrezelweski and Stefan Muhmenthaler, graduating in 2001.  In 2003 Raphaël began a study of traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Basel, specialising in acupuncture.  In 2009 he opened his own TCM practice. He specialises in painless acupuncture through the use of a special laser. Raphaël's passion for Asian culture manifests in his fondness of the Japanese martial arts.  As a teenager he began training in karate, and in 2004 he fulfilled his dream of opening his own school of martial arts near Basel, where he has been teaching children, teenagers and adults karate and jiu-jitsu ever since. Today he is employed as a TCM therapist and martial arts teacher.  Previously he worked  as a pedagogic assistant, as a group leader in security services, as an orchestra attendant and as an accountant.