Zürcher
Sing-Akademie
& Nik Bärtsch’s
MOBILE
Nik Bärtsch is one of Switzerland's most prominent contemporary composers and pianists. Known for his “ritual groove music,” he combines precise rhythmic structures with meditative depth and contemporary sound aesthetics.
Having realized his first commissioned composition in the choir scene with the RIAS Chamber Choir in 2015 (AIM), Nik Bärtsch has now created a commission for the Zürcher Sing-Akademie and his ensemble MOBILE, which sets the poem “Gedicht gegen die Angst” by Zürich author Ilma Rakusa to music. NEW VOCAL GROOVE combines vocal timbres with pulsating grooves and subtle textures. This crossover opens up a new musical space between choral music, minimal, and jazz—focused, energetic, and surprising.
Having realized his first commissioned composition in the choir scene with the RIAS Chamber Choir in 2015 (AIM), Nik Bärtsch has now created a commission for the Zürcher Sing-Akademie and his ensemble MOBILE, which sets the poem “Gedicht gegen die Angst” by Zürich author Ilma Rakusa to music. NEW VOCAL GROOVE combines vocal timbres with pulsating grooves and subtle textures. This crossover opens up a new musical space between choral music, minimal, and jazz—focused, energetic, and surprising.
Claire Dickson
Claire Dickson (us) is a vocalist and producer composing emergent, embodied song. She considers song to be an artistically flexible modality and is inspired by ancient song practices embedded in everyday life. Her two solo albums, Starland (2022) and The Beholder (2024, New Amsterdam Records), have been praised as “enticingly atmospheric… growing in depth and substance on return visits,” by The Wire.
For the currents festival she will play a release show for her new album Balance (New Amsterdam Records, 2026) together with electronic musician Jiahao Li.
For the currents festival she will play a release show for her new album Balance (New Amsterdam Records, 2026) together with electronic musician Jiahao Li.
Alex Paxton,
Nouvel Ensemble
Contemporain
& HYPER DUO
Dive into the exuberant and unclassifiable universe of Alex Paxton (uk), the British composer and trombonist whose writing overflows with energy, colour and imagination. On a stage shared by the Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain (ch), HYPER DUO (ch), this four-part programme offers a dizzying journey through Paxton’s singular musical language, blending instrumental virtuosity, childlike humour and electronic experimentation.
Presented as part of the currents festival’s New Amsterdam Records showcase, this will be an event at the crossroads of jazz, contemporary music, noise and pop — for curious ears, open hearts, and traveling bodies.
Presented as part of the currents festival’s New Amsterdam Records showcase, this will be an event at the crossroads of jazz, contemporary music, noise and pop — for curious ears, open hearts, and traveling bodies.
Laura & Luzius Schuler
In 2023, Laura and Luzius Schuler (ch) travelled to Val Poschiavo to listen to high alpine tales and, much like glacial ice burying stones beneath it, press them onto vinyl. Mandà in Lunga is the album capturing this intimate musical interaction between the siblings, as well as the accompanying film by Yannick Mosimann. Recorded in the reformed church of Poschiavo, with Luzius on the church organ and Laura on violin and vocals, the two sessions are improvised confrontations with the surrounding environment, somewhere between acoustic ambient and experimental sound art.
Marie Krüttli
Marie Krüttli’s (ch) music is an ongoing exploration of sound, emotion, and artistic vulnerability. From her classical upbringing and her work as a jazz pianist to her ventures as an electronic producer, she is an artist unafraid to challenge herself and her listeners.
For the currents festival, Marie Krüttli presents new music as a ritual of becoming. The lyrics evoke feminine power through ancient goddesses — Amaterasu, Isis, Athena — luminous, wise, maternal, brave and fiercely protective figures of transformation. The music unfolds as an intimate, expansive sound world where myth, care, and strength resonate.
ENSEMBLE:
Marie Krüttli — composition + keys + voc
Camilo Angeles — flute
Peter Meyer — guitar
Jérémie Krüttli — ebass
Fabian Rösch — drums
Otis Sandsjö — sax
For the currents festival, Marie Krüttli presents new music as a ritual of becoming. The lyrics evoke feminine power through ancient goddesses — Amaterasu, Isis, Athena — luminous, wise, maternal, brave and fiercely protective figures of transformation. The music unfolds as an intimate, expansive sound world where myth, care, and strength resonate.
ENSEMBLE:
Marie Krüttli — composition + keys + voc
Camilo Angeles — flute
Peter Meyer — guitar
Jérémie Krüttli — ebass
Fabian Rösch — drums
Otis Sandsjö — sax
Zola Jesus
Nika Roza Danilova has summoned electronic goth incantations as Zola Jesus (us) since 2006. She’s endlessly tinkered with her sound as a sonic auteur, and explored the inner workings of her soul by engaging with art pop, classical, and brutally industrial cold wave.
For her currents festival appearance, Zola Jesus is joined by musical polymath Louise Woodward and an all-star cast of Zürich classical musicians, including the acclaimed Galatea Quartet, for a new hypnotic, tidal piece for voice, string quintet and French horn.
For her currents festival appearance, Zola Jesus is joined by musical polymath Louise Woodward and an all-star cast of Zürich classical musicians, including the acclaimed Galatea Quartet, for a new hypnotic, tidal piece for voice, string quintet and French horn.
Colin Self
(XOIR)
Colin Self (us) is an artist, composer, and puppeteer based between Brooklyn and Berlin. They create music, performances, and new systems for interfacing with the human spirit, across a spectrum between the living and deceased. Their practices revolve around the temporary assembly of communities and envelop collaborative and dialogical experiments into play.
XOIR is a perpetually evolving modality of group singing led by Colin Self, focused on fostering a generative environment where individuals can connect with their voice on an individual and collective level, regardless of prior singing experience.
XOIR is a perpetually evolving modality of group singing led by Colin Self, focused on fostering a generative environment where individuals can connect with their voice on an individual and collective level, regardless of prior singing experience.
Holland Andrews
& yuniya edi kwon
Holland Andrews (they/them) and yuniya edi kwon (she/her) are composer-improvisers, vocalists, and interdisciplinary performance makers based in Brooklyn, New York. Their collaborative practice is an emergent and embodied extension of their lives as ritualists, spiritual practitioners, and partners.
ANCESTRAL ROOTS invites people to a celebration that honors heritage and culture, living in and through the diaspora, and third culture identities through sound, storytelling or chanting, making the invitation wide, vibrant and inclusive.
LINE-UP:
Holland Andrews: Clarinet, Electronics, Vocals
Yuniya Edi Kwon: Violin, Vocals
LINKS:
Website Holland Andrews
Website yuniya edi kwon
Youtube
Instagram
ANCESTRAL ROOTS invites people to a celebration that honors heritage and culture, living in and through the diaspora, and third culture identities through sound, storytelling or chanting, making the invitation wide, vibrant and inclusive.
LINE-UP:
Holland Andrews: Clarinet, Electronics, Vocals
Yuniya Edi Kwon: Violin, Vocals
LINKS:
Website Holland Andrews
Website yuniya edi kwon
Youtube
INFO@CURRENTS.CH
EXIL CLUB / MOODS / TONHALLE ZÜRICH / ZHDK / MIGROS MUSEUM FÜR GEGENWARTSKUNST