Sylvie Courvoisier

| Composer/pianist , Sylvie Courvoisier was born and raised in   
Lausanne, Switzerland. She moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1998, where she currently resides.

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| download biography in French (PDF)


She has played and recorded with John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Tim Berne, Joey Baron,Mark Feldman, Tony Oxley, Yusef Lateef Dave Douglas, Joëlle Léandre, Herb Robertson, Butch Morris, Tom Rainey, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Lotte Anker, Fred Frith, Michel Godard, Mark Nauseef among others.

She has been commissioned to write music for concerts, radio, dance and theater. Her works include:” Concerto for electric guitar and chamber orchestra"; "Balbutiements" for vocal quartet and soprano. Commissions  include the Vidy Theater of Lausanne, Pro Helvetia and  Germany's Donaueschingen Musiktage Festival.

Her latest releases as a leader are: ABATON with Mark Feldman and Erik Friedlander on ECM Records (2004), LONELYVILLE with her new quintet on Intakt Records (2007) and a solo piano album ,SIGNS AND EPIGRAMS ,on Tzadik Records (2007).

Since 1996, she has been touring widely with her own groups in USA, Canada and Europe. She has performed at many jazz and classical festivals including Banlieue Bleue Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, Willisau, Davos, Saalfelden, Groningen, Vision, Nürnberg, Taktlos, London LMC, Bath Festival, Victoriaville Festival...

Sylvie is currently the leader of her quintet "Lonelyville"with Ikue Mori, Mark Feldman, Vincent Courtois and Gerlad Cleaver and the Trio Abaton .
She is  a member of “Mephista”, an improvising trio with Ikue Mori and Susie Ibarra;” Herb Robertson Quintet” with Tim Berne, Tom Rainey and Mark Dresser; “Trio “along with Ellery Eskelin  and Vincent Courtois.
She also performs regularly alone and in duo with violonist Mark Feldman.

| Awards include Switzerland's 1996 Prix des jeunes créateurs and Zonta Club's 2000 Prix de la Création .

| Selected Discography:
SIGNS AND EPIGRAMS-Sylvie Courvoisier solo (Tzadik2007)
LONELYVILLE- Sylvie Courvoisier Quintet with Mori, Feldman, Courtois, Cleaver (Intakt 2007)
MALPHAS - Mark Feldman & Sylvie Courvoisier, music of John Zorn-Book of Angels- (Tzadik 2006)
ABATON – Sylvie Courvoisier Trio feat. Feldman, Friedlander (ECM Records, 2cd 2004)
MASADA RECITAL -Sylvie Courvoisier & Mark Feldman , music of John Zorn (Tzadik 2004)
ENTOMOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS - Mephista (Courvoisier, Mori, Ibarra) (Tzadik 2004)
DEUX PIANOS- Sylvie Courvoisier , Jacques Demierre (Intakt, 2000)
Y2K - Sylvie Courvoisier Ocre (Enja Records, 2000)
MUSIC FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO - Sylvie Courvoisier, Mark Feldman (Avan Records, 1999)
MUSIC FOR BARREL ORGAN, PIANO, TUBA, BASS AND PERCUSSION - Sylvie Courvoisier Ocre (Enja, 1997)

« ...That her music is as aesthetically beautiful as it is strange and mysterious is only further testament to her prowess as a composer. That this trio plays her music as if it has been creating it from the air is nothing short of remarkable. Abaton is Courvoisier's crowning achievement thus far, and this group points her firmly forward in a direction where everything is still possible, demonstrating that there is something new under the sun in classical music and improvisation. Perhaps Abaton is the great moment of 2003 for new classical music. »
Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

« Courvoisier's playing is jaw-dropping at times, and there's an extended passage that features her working both inside and on the keyboard of the piano interacting with Rainey and the others in subtle combinations, and working up to a terrifying free jazz piano freakout that could make a person faint!»
Michael Anton Parker, 2005

« This highly original and new music has it all: razor-sharp edges, sounds of a thousand dancing needles, thundering power arising from deeply yawning chasms, mystic fluorescence throughout, calmness combined with a mysterious kind of moving»
Henning Bolte, 5/2007

« …Dans un autre pays que la Suisse, elle serait adulée comme une des plus importantes plumes musicales de son temps. Elle recevrait tous les prix envisageables, n'aurait plus à se faire du souci pour les trente années à venir. Mais elle a décidé de vivre outre-Atlantique. Elle est notre ambassade, mieux que quiconque.... »
Arnaud Robert, Le Temps, 2005