Mila Gafner, born in 2004, started playing the viola at the age of 6 at the Lausanne Conservatory. She will then study with Noémie Bialobroda and joined the Pre-HEM program in 2018.

Mila has been a three-time winner of the Swiss Youth Music Competition in solo viola, as well as three times in chamber music. In April 2020, she was a finalist in the international Anton Rubinstein competition in Berlin and received the Förderpreis for the best interpretation of a contemporary work.

Mila has participated in masterclasses with violist and composer Garth Knox, violinist Gilles Apap, the Sine Nomine Quartet, and violist Matthias Buchholz. During the summers of 2018 and 2019, she attended the AIMS International String Academy in Solsona, Spain, and in December 2019, she studied with the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, specializing in contemporary music, before joining them on tour in Germany, Amsterdam, and Antwerp.

In 2023, she recorded Kodály's Intermezzo for string trio with her ensemble for the 4 Seasons festival album.

Since 2022, Mila has been studying with Jean Sulem at the CNSMDP in Paris.