About
Coco Schwarz (they/them) is a non-binary artist and DJ based in Zurich/Switzerland. As a medium they use video, sound and performance.
Coco Schwarz has had a very distinguished career that transcends genres. Having toured the world as a pianist, Schwarz lives in Zurich/Switzerland and abandons any classical categorization, both in art and in private life. Experimentation meets with a wide resonance in their work. As co-founder of the „Arte Animi pianoduo“ with Yuka Munehisa as well as the polyphonic and experimental „ensemble proton bern“ for contemporary music, Coco Schwarz performs on the modern grand piano, fortepiano, harpsichord and clavichord, but also plays on numerous electronic keyboard instruments and modular synthesizers.
Compositions for performance, installation and film are also part of Schwarz’s oeuvre. This has led to artistic collaborations with renowned filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard, composers such as Beat Furrer, Hanspeter Kyburz or Heinz Holliger, various ensembles and musicians such as the Ensemble Contrechamps or Sarah Maria Sun. Together with artist persona Alina Mann, a multifaceted oeuvre of film and installation works is being created parallel to the music career. Since 2012 Coco Schwarz has been creating performances and choreographic interventions for renowned theatres such as the “théâtre de la bastille”, the Tanzhaus Zurich, the Dampfzentrale Bern, the Südpol Lucerne, and the Mousonturm Frankfurt. In 2017, they created the 8-hour polyphonic production „Routine – a documentation of real time“ at Gessnerallee Zurich after a research stay in Japan.
Schwarz has a long-standing relationship with Japan, where they give concerts almost every year. After studies with pianists Tomasz Herbut, Brigitte Meyer and Aleksandar Madzar at the University of Arts Bern, the University of Music Lausanne and the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Schwarz made their debut as a soloist with the Southwest German Philharmonic, 2013, at Carnegie Hall New York 2013, Suntory Hall in Tokyo 2015, Mariinsky Hall in St. Petersburg 2015, Opera City in Tokyo 2016 and l’Auditori in Barcelona 2020 and Victoria Hall in Geneva 2021.
Schwarz has won numerous international competitions and has received grants and prizes from many foundations.
CD recordings have been released by Musique Suisse, Harmonia Mundi and Kairos. Coco Schwarz gives master classes and workshops in Europe, Asia and America.
Exhibitions/Festivals
Schwarz's Works (Installations/Videos) have been shown in exhibitions and festivals around the globe:
Young Art 2018 (Switzerland)
Art Arsenal, Kiew (Ukraine)
AT center for contemporary Art – Guangzhou (China)
Shcherbenko Art Gallery, Kiew (Ukraine)
Fennek Film (Sweden)
Kunstfilm Festival Zürich (Switzerland)
Fête du Slip Lausanne (Switzerland)
Bangladore Queerfilm Festival (India)
Sessions of Tendance (Paris)
What the fuck fest (Paris)
Xposed Queer Film Festival (Berlin)
Zürich Hochschule der Künste (Switzerland)
Toronto Queer Film Festival (Canada)
Fish and Chips Filmfestival (Turin)
The Naked Room (Kiew, Ukraine)
Eureka Festival Universitario de Cine (Columbia)
kein Museum (Zurich)
Nachtschatten (Munich)
Productions for and at
Gessnerallee Zürich, dem Theater Chur, dem Tanzhaus Zürich, der Dampfzentrale Bern, der Tanzzentrale der Region Nürnberg, dem Südpol Luzern, dem Gare du Nord Basel, dem Theater Roxy Basel, dem Theater Tuchlaube Aarau, dem Sogar Theater Zürich, dem Neuen Theater (Dornach), Théâtre 2.21 (Lausanne), dem Mousonturm Frankfurt und dem Théatre de l’étoile du nord Paris, Théâtre de la Bastille Paris, Festival Archipel, Festival Les Jardins Musicaux
Prizes / Awards
1. Preis European Mendelssohn Competition
1. Preis International competition Euterpe
1. Preis IBLA International Competition
1. Preis Music & Earth International Competition
1. Preis Glière Competition
Award Uttwiler Masterclasses
Pro Argovia Artist 2011/12
“Prix Suisse” from Foundation Suisa
Cultural Award from the City of Zurich («K.» 2012)
Music Award 2019 of the Canton of Berne
Soundconcepts / Compositions / Videos / Installations
02.2024 Album Release “metamorphosis” – Electronic Music, Ambient – by Coco Schwarz
02.2024 Single Release “Onsen Time” – Chill Hop Music – by Lofi Suki
12.2023 Single Release “Chill Pill” – Chill Hop Music – by Lofi Suki
12.2023 Single Release “A Shared Echo” – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince
11.2023 Single Release “Reflections” – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince
06.2023 Album Release “physical cosmology” – 2 Fender Rhodes, Synths & Fieldrecordings – by Coco Schwarz
06.2023 Album Release “NEBULA” – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince
03.2023 Single Release “Molecular” – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince
01.2023 Single Release “Melancholy” – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince
11.2022 Album Release “Memory Lane” – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince
08.2022 Beholding Ephemerality (23’) Video und Sound
07.2022 Twinning (7’) Video, Sound
07.2021 Countersexual Rave (7’58’’) Video, Sound
06.2021 Twinning (30’) – Performance & Sound
06.2021 Voll Sinn – Live VJ-Projection (60’)
03.2021 Album Release “Ly-Ling and Mr Urgesi” (18’) – Solo Piano
05.2020 “unknown vibrating object” installation – Sound & Silicone object
02.2020 Album Release “Interest is like a moving image” with Ayla Pierrot Arendt and Fabian Gutscher (35’)
10.2019 click & faun – commission for ensemble proton bern and inside the baxtor building (50’)
02.2019 Journey to the other – Video (6’30’’) Video, Sound
09.2018 Our Alphabet – Video (17’) Video, Sound
07.2018 Extensions of bodies – Videoinstallation, loop – 2 screens (6’)
2017/18 Film score for the documentary “Ly-Ling und Herr Urgesi” (90’)
12.2017 commission by Guangzhou TV (China) for the new year program (6’)
12.2017 AT Center for contemporary art – Solo exhibition – Guangzhou (China) Video, Sound
11.2017 401 – Zurich – Videoinstallation, Choreograpy – 2 screens, sound, dance
06.2017 Plug it – 3 Videos (4’) Soundcomposition
05.2017 Ashes of time – Video (12’) Soundcomposition
04.2017 bleached (7’) Video, Sound
03.2017 ROUTINE a documentation of real time (8h) 22 channel soundkomposition – Gessnerallee Zürich
11.2016 5073’ (4’) Video und Sound
08.2016 Echomutation (7’) Video, Sound
07.2016 Eggism (5’) Video, Sound
06.2016 you me it (2’) Video, Sound
03.2016 21 Stücke für Moog Synthesizer (120’)
10.2015 Shift (4’) for 5 Instruments and 5 Audioplayers
02.2015 Figures I (4’) for 2 Pianos, Akiyoshidai International Art Village, Japan
01.2015 performance Hommage an I g y o o, (43’) Sound, Performance
10.2014 Figures (6’) for piano 4 hands
11.2014 I g y o o, (45’) Sound, Performance – Premiere Theater Tuchlaube, Aarau
08.2014 5 pieces for Synthesizer (18’)
07.2014 Pre-I g y o o, (55’) Sound, Performance – Premiere Tanzhaus Zurich
06.2014 Vivatus, vivata, vivatum (35’) Théâtre de l’Etoile du Nord, Paris
02.2014 Knowing that (55’) Sound, Performance – Premiere Theater Stok Zurich
03.2014 2 pieces for piano (9’)
11.2012 der Felsen (8’) piano 4 hands – Musikhaus Jecklin Zurich
09.2012 K. (Kompositionen / 11’) Tanzhaus Zurich
06.2012 Performance for 3 Toypianos (30’) Yamaguchi, Japan