A native of Switzerland, Hugo Bollschweiler received his training at the Université de Fribourg, the Conservatoire de Fribourg, the Musikhochschule Basel (B.M., M.M.), the Peabody Institute of Music (GPD) and the Zurich Musikhochschule where he earned his soloist diploma with the highest distinction. His teachers have included Roberto Diaz, Victoria Chiang, Michel Rouilly and Christoph Schiller.

He has performed and taught at the Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Lucerne, Davos, Donaueschingen, Les Arcs, Kuhmo, Montreux, Boswil and Yellow Barn festivals. He has been on the faculty of the Norse and Austin Chamber Music Festivals and the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Accent09 Festival. As an orchestral musician, Hugo Bollschweiler has played in principal positions with the Swiss National Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Zurich Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Fribourg, the Swiss Youth Chamber Orchestra, the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Phiharmonique Suisse, the Orchestre de Chambre de Neuchâtel, the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Capriccio Basel. He is a member of the Camerata Zürich, the Chamber Aartists Orchestra and the Orchestra La Scintilla of Zurich Opera.

Hugo Bollschweiler has been performing as a member of the Duo GOYA!, the Lyonel String Trio, the ensemble "momentum" and touring the U.S. as guest artist with the Colorado, Coolidge and Azmari String Quartets. Additionally, he has been playing, touring and recording with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Zurich Opera House Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Collegium Novum Zurich and the Freiburger Barockorchester. He is the co-founder of the prizewinning period instrument ensemble Capriccio Basel.

Hugo Bollschweiler is a first prize winner in the 2001 „Koeckert Viola Competition", the „VALIANT Competition 2000" and the 1993 International Chamber Music Festival Austria, recipient of the 1997 „Olga von Hartz Owens Memorial Prize in strings" from the Peabody Institute, two Peabody Merit Scholarships, four Yellow Barn Music School & Festival scholarships and the 1998 Zurich Tonhalle Scholarship. He was a featured guest performer at BargeMusic, New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the University of Vermont Lane Series, the Kennedy Center and the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington D.C.

Hugo Bollschweiler has collaborated with Donald Weilerstein, Marc Johnson, Katherine Murdock, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Bonnie Hampton, Maria Lambros, Nicholas Mann, Curtis Macomber, Michael Strauss, Rhonda Rider, Toby Appel, Kurt Widmer and ensembles such as the Peabody Trio, the Jupiter String Quartet, the Basler Streichquartett and the Sarastro Quartet. He has also given the world premiere of works for solo viola by renowned Swiss composers Rolf Urs Ringger and Bettina Skrzypczak. Hugo Bollschweiler has appeared as soloist with the Swiss Chamber Orchestra, the Winterthur Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Neuchâtel, the Swiss National Youth Symphony Orchestra, Capriccio Basel, the Peabody Ensemble, the Zurich Conservatory Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra 65 and the  Orchesterverein Zürich.

Hugo Bollschweiler has received vocal training from Anneliese Fackler and Richard Cowan.

His compositions for orchestra, strings and woodwinds are featured on the label Vde-Gallo and his solo improvisations have been appeared in short films soundtracks. His libretto for “Tageszeitlosen”, a short opera for soloists, chorus and orchestra (2009) was set to music by Swiss composer Daniel Hess.

Hugo Bollschweiler has been involved in crossover productions with renowned singer-songwriters Muriel Anderson and Michael Ronstadt.

Hugo Bollschweiler is a member of the Azmari String Quartet (USA). Between 2007 and 2009, he was on the faculty at Northern Kentucky University as Professor of Viola and Artist-in-Residence and served as artistic director of the Norse Chamber Music Festival.

Hugo Bollschweiler plays on a viola made by Santino Lavazza in Milan in 1722.