A Musician with Boundless Connective Power

Pianist, composer, and improviser Sylvie Courvoisier has been a defining voice in jazz for decades, renowned for her transcendent playing.
Born in 1968 in Lausanne, Courvoisier has lived in New York City since 1998. Her work traverses a wide variety of musical traditions and performance contexts, from classical concert halls—where she interprets music ranging from Zorn to Stravinsky—to jazz festivals and clubs, where she performs both composed and improvised music, often blending the two in her unique style. Her compositions and ensembles seamlessly merge the elegance of European chamber music with the avantgarde stylings and grooves of New York’s downtown scene. Sylvie Courvoisier’s artistic journey has been extraordinary. She has collaborated with avant-garde luminaries such as John Zorn, Mark Feldman, Yusef Lateef, Ikue Mori, Joey Baron and Evan Parker. She leads an acclaimed long-standing trio with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen, which has also expanded to form the sextet Chimaera (featuring Austrian ambient musician Christian Fennesz). She has created three albums and toured extensively with the celebrated guitarist Mary Halvorson. Her ten-year collaboration with the innovative flamenco dancer/choreographer Israel Galván defied any simple genre conventions. Courvoisier has received numerous awards, including the 2018 Swiss Music Prize, Germany’s 2022 International Jazz Piano Prize, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ 2025 Music Award.
2025 is set to be a prolific year for Sylvie Courvoisier. Following the releases of her second solo album, To Be Other-Wise (Intakt Records, 2024), her atmospheric and shape-shifting Chimaera(Intakt Records, 2023), and Bone Bells with Mary Halvorson (Pyroclastic Records, March 14, 2025), the autumn will bring Angel Falls with the legendary Wadada Leo Smith (Intakt Records, October 3, 2025).Her 2025 performance schedule has already taken her across Europe with her trio and in duo with Mary Halvorson, along with solo concerts in the spring. In the autumn, she returns to Europe with Wadada Leo Smith, alongside a parallel duo tour with vibraphonist Patricia Brennan. Later in the year, she will travel to South America for performances with Short Cuts, a collective trio featuring percussionist Nasheet Waits and woodwind artist Ned Rothenberg. A special concert on December 9, 2025, in Brooklyn, NY, will celebrate the releases of Bone Bells and Angel Falls.