About

DSC06943-Bearbeitet_s

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

ALBUMS/SINGLES

 

COCO SCHWARZ

09.2024 Album Release „Ludwig*s DNA“ Cello & Piano & Electronics by Coco Schwarz & Jan-Filip Tupa

02.2024 Album Release “metamorphosis” – Electronic Music, Ambient – by Coco Schwarz

06.2023 Album Release “physical cosmology” – 2 Fender Rhodes, Synths & Fieldrecordings – by Coco Schwarz

03.2021 Album Release “Ly-Ling and Mr Urgesi” (18’) – Solo Piano

02.2020 Album Release “Interest is like a moving image” with Ayla Pierrot Arendt and Fabian Gutscher (35’)

 

PIANO PRINCE

10.2024 Single Release „The Day We Picked Flowers“ – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince

09.2024 Single Release „Playground Memories“ – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince

03.2024 Album Release “After Hours” – Solo Piano – by Piano Prince / 4 Tracks

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 “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

 

LOFI SUKI

10.2024 Single Release „Cool Beans“ Chill Hop Music – by Lofi Suki

06.2024 Single Release “Just Flow” – Chill Hop Music – by Lofi Suki

03.2024 Single Release “Velvet Vibes” – Chill Hop Music – by Lofi Suki

02.2024 Single Release “Onsen Time” – Chill Hop Music – by Lofi Suki

12.2023 Single Release “Chill Pill” – Chill Hop Music – by Lofi Suki

 

VIDEOS/INSTALLATIONS

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’)

05.2020 “unknown vibrating object” installation – Sound & Silicone object

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’)

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

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

 

COMPOSITIONS/PERFORMANCES

10.2019 click & faun – group commission for ensemble proton bern and inside the baxtor building (50’)

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’)

03.2017 ROUTINE a documentation of real time (8h) 22 channel soundkomposition – Gessnerallee Zürich

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