Nik Bärtsch


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

Career

Bärtsch studied piano and percussion before the age of ten, then went to the Zurich Musikhochschule where he graduated in 1997. Additionally, he studied linguistics, musicology, and philosophy at the University of Zurich from 1998 to 2001. He grew interested in the work of avant-garde composers John Cage, Steve Reich, and Morton Feldman. He formed his band Mobile in 1997, and his band Ronin in 2001. Manfred Eicher signed the band Ronin to his label, ECM Records, and released 2008 the first album Stoa. During the next year, Bärtsch became co-owner of a club in Zurich. Bärtsch's music has been called zen funk, but with the album Llyria, he moved toward contemporary classical music. He was instructor of Practical Aesthetics at the Musikhochschule Zurich-Winterthur from 2000–2003.

Awards

As sideman

With Menico Ferrari
With Don Li