Percussionist, composer, and creative director Stephan Diethelm was inspired by the rhythm in Africa when he lived with his parents in Zimbabwe for three years. After training as a primary teacher at the teacher training college St. Michael in Zug, he studied classical percussion at the Conservatory in Zurich with Tonhalle percussionist Horst Hofmann and percussion and improvisation at the Lucerne Conservatory with Pierre Favre. He is a member of the Swiss Percussion Ensemble, with whom he toured internationally and collaborated with John Cage , Matthias Ziegler, and Christoph Baumann. He has recorded three albums with his band Lyn Leon, featuring Carolyn Leonhart and Matthias Eser.
Stephan Diethelm is the organizer and artistic curator of the internationally renowned concert series Musig Im Pflegidach in Muri, Switzerland. Six concerts from this series were recorded live and released as the special edition vinyl box set Newvelle Muri.