Picture by Jonas Scheck, 2023
Jonas Kocher was born in 1977 and grew up in the Swiss countryside near Geneva. He began playing the accordion at the age of seven, then played in accordion orchestras and as a one-man band during his teenage years. He then began studying classical accordion and discovered contemporary music and later improvised and experimental music, which became his own.
Since the early 2000s, he has been working as a composer and accordionist, with a strong interest in process-based and improvisational works. He performs in various ensembles, including musicians like Joke Lanz, Axel Dörner, Jacques Demierre, Gaudenz Badrutt, Christoph Kurzmann, Fagaschinski, as well as with the Šalter Ensemble. Over the years, Kocher has collaborated with artists such as Radu Malfatti, Irena Z.Tomažin, Ilia Belorukov, Eiko Yamada, Hans Koch, Elena Kakaliagou, Michel Doneda, Klaus Filip, Chiyoko Szlavnics, Christian Kesten, Bertrand Denzler, Xavier Charles and many others.
As a composer, Kocher’s works blur the lines between composed theatre, installations, and concert pieces. His work as both an accordionist and/or composer have been featured at prominent festivals, including Festival Météo Mulhouse (2013, 2014), Le Bruit de la Musique (2018), Music Unlimited Wels (2019), Ring Ring Festival Belgrade (2019, 2023, 2024), Cerkno Jazz Festival (2012, 2017, 2023), Sanatorium of Sound Sokołowsko (2016), Konfrontationen Nickelsdorf (2019), Unerhört Festival Zürich (2018), Musik Festival Bern (2017, 2018, 2022), Umlaut Festival Berlin (2012), Festival Sound Around Kaliningrad (2018), Goethe Institut Improv Festival Moscow (2017), Biennale Zagreb, Irtijal Festival Beirut (2015), Izlog Festival Zagreb (2016), Sonic Circuits Washington (2013), Art Biennale Thessaloniki (2015), Biennale Venice (2020), SMC Lausanne (2012, 2021) and Québec Musiques Parallèles (2023), IGNM Zürich (2025), among others.
Kocher has been the recipient of several awards, including the Artist in Residence Scholarship at the Cité des Arts Paris from the Canton of Bern in 2004, the Canton of Bern recognition prize in 2010, and composition grants from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia in 2012 and 2019. In 2020, he was awarded by the Liechti Prize for the Arts.
In addition to workshops, Jonas Kocher shares his experience and practice of free improvisation with bachelor's and master's students in the Music and Movement programme at the Bern University of the Arts.
Read the detailed biography on Wikipedia