Nik Bärtsch

Nik Bärtsch (born 1971) is a Swiss pianist, composer and producer from Zurich. He lives in Zurich and Berlin. 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. 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. Nik Bärtsch currently works in three parallel musical settings: as a solo artist, with the acoustic group Nik Bärtsch's Mobile and with the 'zen-funk' group Nik Bärtsch's 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. In 1999 and 2002 Bärtsch won the Career award of the ‘UBS Cultural Foundation’, in 2002 a 'Werkjahr' (career award) from the city of Zurich, in 2004 the Culture-award from the town of Zollikon (appreciation-award) and in 2006 Priority jazz support from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Discography Nik Bärtsch: * 2002 Hishiryo Nik Bärtsch's Ronin: * 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 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.