Nik Bärtsch is a Swiss pianist, composer and producer from Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

. He lives in Zurich and Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. He began studying piano and percussion at the age of 8. In 1997 he graduated from the Musikhochschule Zürich. Between the years of 1989 and 2001 he studied philosophy, linguistics and musicology at the University of Zurich

University of Zurich

The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....

. He was an Instructor for ‘Practical Aesthetics’ at the 'Musikhochschule Zürich/Winterthur' (2000-2003). In 2003/2004 he lived in Japan for half a year.

Music and career

Nik Bärtsch currently works in three parallel musical settings: as a solo artist, with the acoustic group Mobile and with the 'zen-funk' group Ronin.
As a solo artist he performs his own compositions on prepared piano with percussion. Mobile plays purely acoustic music, performed in rituals of up to 36 hours, which include lighting- and room design. Ronin, by contrast, is more flexible and plays rhythmically complex compositions that contain elements of jazz, funk and acoustic rock.
Since 1997 Mobile has included Kaspar Rast (drums), Mats Eser (bass) and Don Li (clarinets, sax). In 2001 Ronin started with Kaspar Rast (drums) and Björn Meyer (bass), Andi Pupato (percussion) joined the band in finishing their first record "Randori" in 2001. In 2006 Sha (Clarinets, Sax) joined the band for album "Stoa" released by ECM Records.
Bärtsch's earlier projects were released on Ronin Rhythm Records, in 2006 Bärtsch was signed to ECM

ECM (record label)

ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres...

and has released three albums. In 2008 Nik Bärtsch's Ronin album Holon was released by ECM Records. In 2010 Nik Bärtsch's Ronin album Llyria was released by ECM records. In 2009 Nik Bärtsch's Ronin contributed to the drama Sounds and Silence with Modul 42 and Sound and Silence, Music for Film sountrack and Dvd released by ECM records.

Awards

1999 and 2002 Career award of the ‘UBS Cultural Foundation’.
2002 'Werkjahr' (career award) from the city of Zurich.
2004 Culture-award from the town of Zollikon (appreciation-award).
2006 Priority jazz support from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

Discography

Don Li

• 1999 Gen, Tonus-Music-Records

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin:

• 2010 Llyria, ECM
• 2008 Holon, ECM
• 2006 Stoa, ECM
• 2004 Rea, Ronin Records
• 2003 Live, Ronin Records
• 2002 Randori, Ronin Records

Nik Bärtsch's Mobile:

• 2004 Aer
• 2001 Ritual Groove Music

Nik Bärtsch:

• 2002 Hishiryo

External links

• Official Homepage
• Nik Bärtsch's Ronin at MySpace
• "In Conversation with Nik Bärtsch" by Stuart Nicholson (Jazz.com).