Tour

Šalter Ensemble

Šalter Ensemble operates on the border between free improvisation and composition, focusing on collective processes as a central part of its practice. The project is an international electroacoustic ensemble initiated in 2017 by Jonas Kocher in collaboration with Zavod Sploh Ljubljana and Izlog Festival Zagreb, and has since performed at numerous venues and festivals in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland and Serbia. In 2021, the ensemble released the album Štiri dela.

The ensemble consists of outstanding personalities from the Swiss music scene, the Slovenian music scene and, in this year’s edition, exposed representatives of the Styrian music scene. The musicians come from a wide range of backgrounds – from jazz to traditional and folk music to contemporary improvised and electronic music – and are from different generations.

In its current programme, Šalter presents new compositions:
Interstices / Interferences (2023) by Jonas Kocher & Gaudenz Badrutt
šum III (2023) by Elisabeth Harnik
My Wish Your Command (2023) by Tomaž Grom

Line-up 2023: Gaudenz Badrutt, electronics, Estelle Beiner, violin, Ilia Belorukov, saxophone, Tomaž Grom, double bass, electronics, Elisabeth Harnik, piano, objects, Josef Klammer, augmented percussion, Jonas Kocher, accordion, Samo Kutin, hurdy gurdy, Alfred Lang, trumpet, Irena Z. Tomažin, voice

Artistic direction by Kocher & Badrutt, Harnik, Grom

Dates fall 2023
November 23, Ljubljana (SLO), Festival Forum nove glasbe
November 24, St.Johann (AT), Alte Gerberei
November 26, Graz (AT), TaO!

Press
Interview with Ilia Belorukov [Bieler Tagblatt, May 25 2023, in German]
Broadcasting of the Biel concert on Swiss National Radio SRF 2 Kultur [Neue Musik im Konzert, 11.10.2023; still online]
Broadcasting on Slovenian National Radio RTS Ars [Arsov art atelje 31.01.2024, in slovenian]

Production
Bruit Association, Zavod Sploh (Ljubljana) and Association for New and Improvised Music (Graz)

Support
City of Biel/Bienne, Canton of Bern, Fondation Nicati – De Luze, Pro Helvetia, Fondation SUISA, SIS, Land Steiermark Kultur, Stadt Graz, Bundesministerium Kunst, SKE Fonds, GFÖM/AKM, Alpen-Adria Allianz (AAA), Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana, European Union/Culture Moves Europe

More activities

ErikM (picture by Dylan Bourquin)
Concert / Performance, Event in Biel/Bienne
January 31 – February 3rd: concerts in Vienna, Berlin, Zürich & Biel/Bienne
Bruit – Group for Music Creation, Soirées Luc Ferrari 2023 (© Lucas Dubuis)
Concert / Performance
NEXT January 24 2026: Concert in Den Haag. Music by van Eck, Braxton, Bosshard and Barrett/Zarić
MIlano 2025. Photo by Francesca Naibo
Workshop
Biel/Bienne: January to March 2026. Monthly gatherings for exploring free musical improvisation, open for everyone!
Hans Koch – Jonas Kocher – Frantz Loriot, Biel/Bienne 2022 (picture by Sebastian Rotzler)
Concert / Performance
December 20 & January 12: concerts in Fellering and Paris (France)
Gaudenz Badrutt, Soirée Bruit Pauline Oliveros & Phil Niblock. Pictures by Dominik Rickli
Concert / Performance, Event in Biel/Bienne
November 20 2025, Luzern: Performance Gaudenz Badrutt solo
Ilia Belorukov – Gaudenz Badrutt – Antoine Läng, Festival Densités 2025 (picture by Jean-Claude Sarrasin, montage by G. Badrutt)
Concert / Performance, Talk
November 8 2025, Belleville-sur-Meuse (F): Trio Belorukov-Badrutt-Kocher, “Double Solo” by Loriot-Denzler & Discussion after the book “Musique improvisée et questions politiques”

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