Merit Vareschi started working together with Andrea Kerner in the Communications Department in May 2009, and took over for Ms. Kerner, who is on a one-and-a-half year maternity leave, in June. Her responsibilities include developing communications strategies, coordinating press work and overseeing and editing the orchestra’s print and online media.

After completing secondary school at the Waldorf School in Oldenburg, Ms. Vareschi, a native of Munich, eventually found her way back to her city of birth after a gap year in Hamburg. She studied International Business Management with a focus on tourism at the Euro Business College. Always fascinated by travelling and discovering new places, she spent considerable time abroad during her studies, for internships in Canada and Venezuela, and an exchange semester in Madrid.

Her love of travel was what inspired her to take a job at the firm Business & Nature GmbH after she completed her degree in 2003. She worked here for more than five years as a project leader in project management and developed, organised, and oversaw major international events and their public image.

Ms. Vareschi moved to Berlin at the beginning of 2009 to follow her heart and pursue different career options. Here, she discovered the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and was excited to find that the job satisfied many of her desires: working together with interesting people from all over the world, expanding her cultural and linguistic horizons, and not least working with an open and friendly team. She is especially happy that a passion for music, which in the past has had to take a back seat in her professional life, can finally come to the fore.

What she likes so much about the orchestra? The passion and commitment that each person brings to the table, and the free, independent and young structure of this multicultural ensemble.