Wyttenbach, Jürg

(b Berne, Dec 2, 1935). Swiss composer and pianist. He studied at the Berne Conservatory with von Fischer and Veress among others, at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included Lefébure and Calvet, and with Karl Engel (1958–9). He has taught the piano at the conservatories of Biel (1959–67) and Berne (1962–6), and at the Basle Musik Akademie (from 1967). A specialist in the performance of new music, he co-founded the Basle Ensemble of the ISCM with his wife, Janka Brun, the Holligers, and Nicolet and Eduard Brunner. He has received particular recognition for his...

(b Berne, Dec 2, 1935). Swiss composer and pianist. He studied at the Berne Conservatory with von Fischer and Veress among others, at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included Lefébure and Calvet, and with Karl Engel (1958–9). He has taught the piano at the conservatories of Biel (1959–67) and Berne (1962–6), and at the Basle Musik Akademie (from 1967). A specialist in the performance of new music, he co-founded the Basle Ensemble of the ISCM with his wife, Janka Brun, the Holligers, and Nicolet and Eduard Brunner. He has received particular recognition for his interpretations of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, Stockhausen’s Mantra and works by Elliott Carterand, which he has recorded for the Accord label.

As a composer, Wyttenbach was influenced early on by the music of Bartók and Stravinsky, as can be heard in the humorous-satirical choruses Sutil und Laar...