Our Offices & Partners Abroad

For detailed information please click on the offices and cultural centres below. For further information on the headquarters in Zurich please go to: www.prohelvetia.ch

Projects supported >

«Entendre» – Nik Bärtsch’s tour in South America

Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay — Events

Entendre

Medellín [CO]
Concert
21.Nov | 7 pm
Teatro Comfama

Bogota [CO]
Album and book release
23.Nov
Casa Santo & Seña

Bogotá [CO]
Concert
24.Nov | 8 pm
Auditorio Fabio Lozano

Buenos Aires [AR]
Buenos Aires Jazz Festival
Concert
26.Nov | 19:30 pm
Usina del Arte

Buenos Aires [AR]
Buenos Aires Jazz Festival
Masterclass
27.Nov | 15 pm
La Scala de San Telmo

Mar del Plata [AR]
Mar del Plata Jazz Festival
Concert
30.Nov | 21 pm
Espacio ECEM

Montevideo [UR]
Concert
1.Dec
Salle Alliance Francaise

Montevideo [UR]
Masterclass
2.Dec
Udelar

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.

Upcoming maintenance work

The application portal myprohelvetia will be updated from 1.1.-7.1.2024. Due to these changes, open applications must be finalized and submitted via the current online portal (myprohelvetia.ch) by the latest 23:59 on 31 December 2023. Until this date, the deadlines and criteria outlined in the current guidelines and calls for applications apply. New applications can be created and submitted in the application portal as of 8 January 2024.