Alfred Zimmerlin

was born in Zurich, on April 12th, 1955, and grew up in Schönenwerd (canton Solothurn). He studied musicology and ethnomusicology at Zurich University under the tutelage of Kurt von Fischer und Wolfgang Laade, music theory under the tutelage of Peter Benary, and composition under the tutelage of Hans Wüthrich and Hans Ulrich Lehmann. He attended the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt. He has taken an active part in the “Werkstatt für improvisierte Musik” (WIM, Workshop for Improvised Music) Zurich since 1980. In 1982 and 1984, Alfred Zimmerlin was awarded grants by the canton of Aargau, including a residency in Paris, in 1986 he received the music prize of the C. F. Meyer foundation, and in 1988 he was awarded a grant for composition by the city of Zurich. In 1999 he was again awarded a grant by the canton of Aargau and in 2001 he was invited by Pro Helvetia (Swiss Culture Foundation) on the Cairo Residency Programme. In 2005, he received the prize of the UBS Culture Foundation, and in 2014 the Cultural Award of the canton of Zurich and the Art Award of Zollikon. Residency 2014 at «Haus am See» Kraemerstein/Switzerland, 2016 Swiss Music Prize. 2010 to 2022 Lecturer in improvisation at the FHNW Hochschule für Musik in Basel, where he led the master’s programme in free improvisation.

→ Laudatio zum Kulturpreis des Kantons Zürich

Alfred Zimmerlin’s ample oeuvre comprises pieces for piano, chamber music (with and without live-electronics), vocal music, orchestral music, music for theatre, and works for radio and film. More recently, he has also realised various collaborative composition projects. His major works in recent years include the „Akkordeonbuch“ (2016/19, 2020-2022), „On the Move – In a Roundabout Way“ for electric bass and string orchestra (2015/16) and the ensemble pieces „Jonglagen“ (2021/22) and „Let Me Tell You About My Sound“ (2022/23).

Zimmerlin is also active as an improvising musician. In a busy concert schedule, he has performed as an improvising cellist with numerous formations in Europe and the USA, including at the most important festivals (Willisau, Ulrichsberg, Nickelsdorf, Leipzig, Dresden, New Music America Miami, Donaueschingen and many more). He plays in the trios Kimmig-Studer-Zimmerlin and ZimmerlinStoffnerMeier, among others, and was a member of KARL ein KARL, a composers‘ collective and improvisation trio (with Peter K Frey and Michel Seigner), which worked together in an unchanged line-up from 1983 to 2018. The special feature of the collective was that all compositional decisions were made jointly and for which they were responsible. Zimmerlin’s work as a composer and improvising musician is documented on numerous recordings.