In his album «Entendre» (listen), pianist, composer, writer, and director Nik Bärtsch [CH] considers listening as a dynamic process. In these solo realizations, he presents polymetric pieces that unfold with heightened alertness to the subtleties of touch.

This work, recorded at Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo and released in 2021, will be performed on a tour through Colombia, Argentina, and Uruguay from November 21st to December 1st 2022. Bärtsch will also release his book «Listening Music, Movement, Mind» – a conceptual and practical publication about the creative relationship between mind and body in the context of music and martial arts – and conduct masterclasses.

In «Entendre», the pianist finds freedom in aesthetic restriction, while also seizing opportunities to guide the music to new places. An adaptive and original musician, he diligently serves the context at hand, and the solo work has been developing in parallel to his group activities over the last few years.

In playing solo Bärtsch attempts, he says, “to let go and flow in the piece and transcend the egocentric way of forcing the music, finding a higher level of freedom in agreement with the form of the work.”

ABOUT

Nik Bärtsch [CH] is a pianist, composer, conductor, record producer, and writer. He studied piano and percussion before the age of ten. Prior to his studies at the Academy of Music, he was taught for 5 years (1986-1991) by Boris Mersson. He graduated from the Zurich Musikhochschule in 1997 and, in addition, studied linguistics, musicology and philosophy at the University of Zurich. During his training, he became interested in the work of avant-garde composers such as John Cage, Steve Reich and Morton Feldman. He formed his band Mobile in 1997 and his band Ronin in 2001. In 2006 Ronin released his first album on ECM Records: Stoa. His compositions are performed by renowned ensembles such as the Bang On A Can Ensemble in New York, the RIAS Chamber Choir in Berlin and the Zurich Chamber Orches-tra.