Born in Bad Saulgau in 1988, Silke Strahl took her first steps in music at the age of 9. She began studying music and movement at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst Stuttgart (Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts) in 2008. From 2010 onwards, she studied classical saxophone with Nikola Lutz. An Erasmus exchange took her to Lucerne, where she obtained her bachelor's degree with honours and then a master's degree in contemporary music performance with Sascha Armbruster and Beat Hofstetter. 
She plays in various ensembles and participates in numerous creations by Swiss and international composers. She is a substitute in various orchestras and ensembles, such as the Basel Symphony Orchestra. 
Free improvisation is an important part of her musical work. She plays with Urban Mäder, Hans-Peter Pfammatter, Tizia Zimmermann, Lucas Niggli and Christian Weber, among others. 
In 2016, she won the Edwin Fischer Prize and the Soundzz.z.zzz...z competition at the Lucerne Festival.
Silke is actively involved in the Lucerne cultural scene: she is a member of the Mullbau team and the Forum neue Musik.