Jonas Kocher

Jonas Kocher is a musician and composer born in Nyon (Switzerland) in 1977. He has been based in Biel/Bienne) since the late 1990s. 
Biography.
Composer and accordionist Jonas Kocher followed his musical studies at the University of the Arts in Bern between 1996 and 2004 with Teodoro Anzellotti, Pierre Sublet and Georges Aperghis. He soon developed a keen interest in experimental practices in sound and performance, which led him to explore musical theater as a performer in productions by and Daniel Ott and electronic music in the BlindeKinder duo. Since 2003 he has been creating his own pieces of composed theatre, various sound performances and he also dedicates himself to composition and free improvisation. Starting from 2006 and for a few years, he has worked closely with Association Rue du Nord (Lausanne).
Since 2008, he has performed as accordionist with regular partners such as Jacques Demierre, , Joke Lanz, Christian Wolfarth, Gaudenz Badrutt, Michel Doneda, Chris Heenan, Christof Kurzmann, (in the accordion trio 300 basses with Luca Venitucci), Leonel Kaplan, , Burkhard Beins, Radu Malfatti, Ilan Manouach, Andy Guhl and many others. His musical activity has led him to perform throughout Europe and in Russia, Japan, and the USA and to collaborate with dancers and visual artists.
As interpreter, he has collaborated with musicians and composers such as Christian Kesten, Stefan Thut, Antoine Chessex, Chiyoko Szlavnics, and Radu Malfatti. If his practice of improvisation seems to contrast with his parallel interest in composition and sound performance, it is only because the creative dimension of these areas is not taken into account in its entirety; this is an area where Jonas Kocher sees a field of privileged artistic experimentation and where listening, sound and space are constantly explored.
As a composer, he has produced works that range between composed theatre, installations and concert pieces. He has composed occasionally for audio drama, dance and theater. Jonas Kocher is active as an organizer of concerts in Switzerland and elsewhere and he is running BRUIT, a platform dedicated to experimental sound practices.
In 2005 he received the Art award of the city of Nyon and in 2010 the prize of recognition of the music committee of the Canton of Berne. Award Winner of the Liechti Prize for the Arts 2020. His works have been performed at the Biennale Bern 2010, Musikfestival Bern 2017 and 2018, Umlaut festival Berlin, the Jardins Musicaux festival of Cernier, the Forge London, the Zagreb Biennale, SMC Lausanne, Thessaloniki Art Biennale, etc.