DUO KOCHER/BADRUTT

JONAS KOCHER (Swiss): Akkordeon/Electronics

http://www.jonaskocher.net/

The Swiss accordion player, electronic musician and composer, Jonas Kocher, was born in 1977. He studied at the Hochschule der Künste Bern with Teodoro Anzellotti (accordion), Pierre Sublet and Georges Aperghis (théâtre musical). Kocher has played in various projects by Ruedi Häusermann and Daniel Ott. He currently performs with many improvised music projects in Switzerland and Europe as an accordion player and electronic musician. Kocher has worked on a wide range of projects with artists such as Urs Leimgruber, Paed Conca, Peter Evans, Michel Doneda, Christian Wolfarth, Christian Weber, Hans Koch, Thomas Lehn, Lukatoyboy, Duo Blank Disc, HarS, Jean Bordé, Ensemble Rue du Nord, and Raed Yassin. Kocher was the initiator and organizer of Swiss-Balkan Creative Music (2007-2008) and is a self-taught composer, working predominantly in the field of new music theatre. His theatrical music compositions have been presented at Biennale Bern in 2003, Theater Basel, Zentrum Paul Klee, Festival Encuentros Buenos Aires, KlangKunstBühne Berlin, Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel, Festival Concentus Moravie, and Biennale Zagreb. He regularly composes music for radio features for the Swiss Radio DRS2. From 2004 to 2005 he was resident composer for six months at the Cité des Arts, Paris, and received the grant of the Canton de Berne. In 2005 Kocher was awarded the Culture Prize of the City of Nyon (CH).

GAUDENZ BADRUTT (Swiss): Electronics

http://www.shizophonic.ch/biogb_e.htm

Gaudenz Badrutt was born in Chur and brought up in Davos. He began playing the piano at the age of eight. He was, during his time at college, pianist and composer for various theatre productions by the Dramatische Kantonsschülergruppe. During this time he developed an interest in various musical styles and experimented with electronic tapes, synthesizers and improvisation. From 1994 until 2001 Badrutt studied at the Hochschule für Musik & Theater Bern/Biel, and attended master courses headed by Claude Helffer in Paris (later with piano instruction), Gertrud Schneider / Tomas Bächli and Fred Frith. In 1998 he undertook a teacher’s diploma (with Gertrud Schneider), and in 2001 a concert diploma with distinction (under Pierre Sublet). He has also worked on various musical theatre productions such as Mauricio Kagel’s Der Mündliche Verrat – Ein Musikepos Über Den Teufel (direction: Jonas Kocher), the Schweizerischen Tonkünstlerfest in Zug, and Les Adieux written by Kocher (in Biel). In 2001 Badrutt received a stipend from the Pro Arte Foundation. In 2002 he received another stipend, this time from the Canton of Grisons Competition for Professional Cultural Workers, which lasted until 2003. Badrutt won the 'Coup de Coeur' award of distinction from the Music Commission of the Canton of Bern in 2004 and first prize at the ‘Concours de Reding’ (a competition for improvisation awarded through the Swiss Association of Musicians) in the same year.

Badrutt has performed various piano recitals, primarily featuring 20th century repertoire. From 2002 and 2004 Badrutt was a workshop assistant of Christian Müller at Lucerne School of Music (jazz school). He has taught at the Pädagogischen Maturitätsschule Kreuzlingen (from 2005) and worked as an improvising electronic musician (synthesizer, sampling etc.) mainly in the duo Strøm (since 2000 with Christian Müller, who plays bass clarinet and electronics). Other projects involving Badrutt as an electronic musician include: Biennelectronic Orchestra, which involved a six-hour outdoor audio-performance in collaboration with Hans Koch, Martin Schütz, Christian Müller, Silber Ingold, Chrischi Weber, Edgar Laubscher and Jonas Csloviecek in the ‘Elfenaupark’; Biel; a sound installation titled Projektorroadambiance for the ten-year anniversary of the Alpodrom in Marsoel, Chur; Abula Rasa a production by Alpodrom in collaboration with M.Lardon and P.C.Zumthor for the musical concept and its implementation; Thuro a musical/literary realisation of the novel Thuro; the composition and performance of a lake sound-scene; and collaborations with Ulrich Gasser (composition and flutes), Jürg Lanfranconi (who plays wind instruments and percussion) and Martin Huber (speaker).