Peter René Baumann, better known as DJ BoBo, is a Swiss dance music sensation who has soared to fame with tracks such as Somebody Dance with Me. While he initially wished to work in the bakery industry, his love for dance made him change his career option.
French-born Swiss composer Arthur Honegger was part of the legendary Les Six and heralded the modern movement in French music. Trained in Zurich and Paris, he later soared to fame with his version of Le Roi David. Antigone and Pacific 231 remain two of his most popular pieces.
Born to a Jewish family in Geneva, Ernest Bloch had learned to play the violin by age 9. Best known for works such as Avodath Hakodesh, Bloch composed music that carried a significant neoclassical trend. He also taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and was a skilled photographer, too.
Ladyva began learning the piano at 14 and is now one of the greatest boogie woogie musicians of all time. In April 2020, the Swiss artist performed a piano piece, Quarantine Boogie, from her home, owing to the COVID-19 lockdown. The piece got her 100,000 YouTube hits in less then 5 days.
Swiss instrumentalist and composer Adrian von Ziegler, known for his signature long mane, first gained international attention on YouTube, where he has over a million subscribers. A self-proclaimed lover of Celtic and fantasy music, he also often experiments with metal and Oriental music. He was initially known by his pseudonym Indigo.
American-Swiss artist Christian Marclay has revolutionized art by inventing turntablism, a method of manipulating sounds. He is also known for his unusual art installations, such as the video The Clock, a compilation of film scenes featuring clocks, which eventually won him the Golden Lion at the 2011 Venice Biennale.
Swiss folk-pop-blues singer Sophie Hunger learned playing the piano as a child and was later introduced to jazz by her music-loving diplomat father. Known for albums such as Halluzinationen and Molecules, she has also won a Swiss Film Award for the soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated film My Life as a Courgette.
Not many know that people who stammer and stutter have a patron saint, too, and he is Notker Balbulus, or Notker the Stammerer, a Benedictine monk of the Early Middle Ages. A musician, a poet, and a scholar, he had a prominent stutter. He is also remembered for writing Liber Hymnorum.
Remembered for pioneering the eurythmics approach of learning music, Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze was a major figure of the modernist movement in music. Starting his career as a professor at the Geneva Conservatory, he later launched his own music school, which was later shut down by the Nazis.
Kurt Maloo initially attended business school but later focused on a career in conceptual art and painting. Born into a musical family, he performed with many local bands, too. He later soared to fame as part of the duo Double and with chartbusting hits such as The Captain of Her Heart.
One of the greatest 20th-century Swiss composers, Frank Martin had mastered the piano even before joining school. While he was initially pushed to study math and physics, he later completely focused on music. Though mostly inspired by Christianity, he also created music for many plays and operas.
One of the greatest virtuoso oboists of all time, Heinz Holliger had already started playing the recorder and the piano by age 6 and focused on the oboe at age 11. He later applied new techniques to the oboe, such as harmonics and multiphonics. He has also composed works such as the opera Schneewittchen.
Martin Tillman scripted history by becoming the first electric cellist to compose for a Hollywood movie, The Fan. He has also contributed to the soundtracks of movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Dark Knight trilogy. His work on the documentary Cries from Syria earned him an Emmy nomination.
One of the world’s best-known clowns, Swiss entertainer Grock earned the title of The King of Clowns. He learned his first tricks from his father, before joining a caravan, performing as an acrobat, and then a traveling circus. Proficient in a number of instruments, he used his musical skills to entertain the audience.
Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck is chiefly remembered for his countless lieder and operas. Born to a landscape painter, he initially attended art classes but later switched to music. His best-known works include the operas Penthesilea and Venus and the song cycles Lebendig begraben and Elegie.
Swiss accordionist Werner Thomas soared to fame with a tune called Chip Chip, which he had composed while working at a restaurant, and which was later released in a number of countries, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. The tune later came to be known as Chicken Dance, or the Birdie Song.
Called the Russian Brahms by his classmate Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian-born Swiss-origin composer Paul Juon started his musical journey playing the violin and the flute at the Moscow Conservatory. Inspired by folk melodies, he penned chamber music, sonatas, and piano quartets, and also translated Anton Arensky’s works into German.
While he initially studied law, Swiss composer Rolf Liebermann later switched to music. For a while, he had also taught music to German refugee children in Switzerland. He was also associated with Swiss Radio and the Hamburg State Opera. His best-known works as a composer include Leonore 40/45 and Penelope.
Swiss composer Ludwig Senfl was a major figure of the Franco-Netherlandish school of music. Starting his singing career with the choir of Maximilian I, he also initially aspired to be a priest. His works include motets, lieder, and masses. He also edited the anthology Liber selectarum cantionum.