Primary Instrument: Piano
Composer/pianist, Sylvie Courvoisier was born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland. She started to play piano at age of six initiated by her father, an amateur jazz pianist. She moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1998, where she currently resides.
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 ;”Ocre de Barbarie”, a musical performance for metronomes, automatons, barrel organ, piano, tuba, saxophone, violin and percussion.
Commissions include the Vidy Theater of Lausanne, Pro Helvetia and Germany's Donaueschingen Musiktage Festival.
Her debut recording “Sauvagerie Courtoise” on Unit Records was released in 1994. Her second recording ''Ocre” on Enja Records (Music for barrel organ, piano, tuba, bass and percussion ) led to appearances on concert stages all over Europe. In the following years, Courvoisier released 6 CDs as a leader, and 10 CDs as a Co-leader, and more than 20recordings as a side person or as a guest.
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 1995, she has been touring widely with her own groups and as a side person in USA, Canada and Europe including Jazz and New Music Festivals such as Berlin, Willisau, Donaueschingen, Banlieue Bleue, Saalfelden, Groningen, Visions NY, Nürnberg, Taktlos, London LMC, Bath Festival, Muenster and Victoriaville Festival, among others Sylvie is currently the leader of her own quintet “Lonelyville” 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; in Trio along with Ellery Eskelin and Vincent Courtois: John Zorn’s Cobra.
She also performs regularly in Duo with violinist Mark Feldman.
Photo Credit
Christian Ducasse
Awards:
Awards include Switzerland's 1996 Prix des jeunes createurs and Zonta Club's 2000 Prix de la Creation.“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 decide de vivre outre-Atlantique. Elle est notre ambassade, mieux que quiconque...” --Arnaud Robert, Le Temps, 2005
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)
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