Susanne Abbuehl

Swiss/Dutch singer and composer Susanne Abbuehl was born in Berne, Switzerland, on July 30, 1970. Drawn to music and language early on, composing songs and writing words in her own language, she started studying the harpsichord at age seven. At age seventeen, she moved to Los Angeles where she started studying voice and where she was a member of a jazz group that toured the U.S. and Canada. Back in Europe, she took up professional education in jazz and classical voice at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she studied with the late Jeanne Lee. She earned a Masters Degree, graduating cum laude. Abbuehl also studied North Indian classical vocal music with Dr. Indurama Srivastava in Amsterdam and later became a student of famed master singer Dr. Prabha Atre in Bombay, to whom she regularly returns. She studied composition and analysis with Dutch composer Diderik Wagenaar. Her international debut „April“ for ECM Records (2001), produced by Manfred Eicher, received wide critical acclaim and won an EDISON Music Award (Dutch Grammy) in 2002. Her new recording “Compass” for ECM Records was released in 2006. With her own group, in which she maintains longtime musical partnerships, Susanne Abbuehl has toured extensively in many European countries: France, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, England, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, Austria and Poland. She was invited to perform at major festivals in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. She has performed with the Jeanne Lee Music & Dance Ensemble of the late Jeanne Lee and has worked with musicians from different musical backgrounds. As a singer and composer, she was featured in radio productions by Radio Netherlands International, Schweizer Radio DRS, Südwestrundfunk and Deutschlandfunk. Her concerts have been recorded and broadcast by Radio France, RAI Italy, NRK Norway, Dutch NPS and Swiss Radio DRS and RSR. Susanne Abbuehl has been commissioned to write for various settings, including work for radio, theatre, and sound environments. As the only non-American singer, she was chosen by the Downbeat Critics Poll 2002 in the category “Best Female Vocalist/Talent Deserving Wider Recognition”. In the same poll, one year later, she held the 6th position in the category “Rising Star Female Vocalist”, and her album “April” was featured among the best in the category “Beyond Album”. Abbuehl’s musical setting of the E.E. Cummings poem “yes is a pleasant country:” was featured by the Academy of American Poets. Susanne Abbuehl is a faculty member of the music universities in Lucerne and Lausanne, Switzerland. She has also lectured in France, Italy, England and Holland. Abbuehl was named Professor in 2005. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.