Born in Bad Saulgau in 1988, Silke Strahl had her first music lessons at the age of 9. She began studying elementary music education at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts in 2008, and from 2010 she also studied classical saxophone with Nikola Lutz. An Erasmus stay took her to Lucerne, where she completed her instrumental bachelor's degree and master's degree in Interpretation of Contemporary Music with Sascha Armbruster and Beat Hofstetter with honours. 

She is active in various ensembles and takes part in premières by Swiss and international composers. She has performed as a substitute in various orchestras and ensembles, such as the Basel Symphony Orchestra. 

Another focus of her musical work is free improvisation. She has performed on stage with Urban Mäder, Hans-Peter Pfammatter, Tizia Zimmermann, Lucas Niggli and Christian Weber, among others. 

She also won the Edwin Fischer Recognition Award and the Soundzz.z.zzz...z competition at the Lucerne Festival in 2016.

Silke is actively involved in Lucerne's cultural scene and is part of the Mullbau team and the Forum neue Musik.