FONDATION SUISA and Pro Helvetia have decided to end their joint involvement in WOMEX with immediate effect. From 2026, there will no longer be a SWISS MUSIC stand.
This decision is based on an analysis of recent years: the objectives set – in particular the visibility and support of Swiss music creators and their presence in the showcase programme – could no longer be achieved. Both the figures, particularly regarding the participation of Swiss music creators and their representatives, and feedback from the industry show that the benefits of the joint stand no longer justify the effort involved.
At the same time, FONDATION SUISA and Pro Helvetia will remain in contact with WOMEX and will continue to monitor the showcase programme in particular. Alternative support measures will be explored where appropriate. In parallel, the international support strategy will be further developed and new formats tested.
From 22 to 25 April 2026, the international jazz scene gathered for the 20th edition of jazzahead! in Bremen. Switzerland was represented at this anniversary event by a delegation of over 60 people and a joint stand led by FONDATION SUISA. The highlight of this year’s presence was the showcase performance by KNOBIL.
KNOBIL, the trio led by Lausanne-based singer and double bassist Louise Knobil, presented a programme blending jazz and pop with a strong focus on live performance. The band impressed with their high level of musical precision, distinctive sound and strong stage presence. The fact that KNOBIL’s performance was very well attended, despite the German Jazz Prize awards ceremony taking place at the same time as their showcase, demonstrates that KNOBIL is able to appeal to a broad audience of industry professionals and festival-goers with their music. A further indication of KNOBIL’s popularity was the band’s completely sold-out merchandise stand. https://www.instagram.com/knobil
The SWISS MUSIC Stand: a highly popular and dynamic networking platform
Meanwhile, the SWISS MUSIC stand, co-organised by FONDATION SUISA, served as a meeting point for the Swiss delegation and their international contacts throughout the four days of the fair. The atmosphere at the stand was relaxed, and feedback on the organisation was consistently positive.
Meeting between Swiss delegates and international professionals from the sector
In conversations and smaller networking sessions, the focus was particularly on exchanges with existing partners as well as delegations from other European countries.
jazzahead! 2026 once again confirmed its role as a platform for a broad, open understanding of jazz. For Switzerland, it once again offered the opportunity to showcase the diversity and professionalism of the local scene – this year with KNOBIL as a prominent example on stage.
The 21st edition of jazzahead! will take place from 21 to 24 April 2027.
Cully Jazz Festival 2026｜10–18 April｜Cully Wine and panoramic views in French-speaking Switzerland
For over forty years, the Cully Jazz Festival has transformed the wine-growing village of Cully on Lake Geneva into a dense labyrinth of clubs, cellars and pubs every April. With SWISS MUSIC @ home, FONDATION SUISA is using this special atmosphere to bring international professionals to the region – where they can meet Swiss musicians in the midst of the festival’s daily life and forge new connections.
By mid-April, Cully already smells intensely of spring. The sun hangs low over the lake, the view stretching as far as the French Alps is fantastic, and visitors to the Cully Jazz Festival crowd the narrow streets with wine glasses in hand. Anyone drifting through the festival here oscillates between a holiday feeling and sensory overload – and that is precisely what makes this festival so appealing: within a few hundred metres, international stars meet the local scene, and the carefully curated concerts are complemented by free gigs in numerous caveaux.
It is within this atmosphere that SWISS MUSIC @ home takes place: a programme by FONDATION SUISA that invites international professionals to Swiss festivals to connect them with the local scene. At Cully Jazz 2026, this group comprised 17 international guests from France, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and China.
The group walk through the terraced vineyards of Lavaux – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – was described by many as one of the highlights of the stay – yet the centrepiece of the networking activities was once again the ‘speed dating’ sessions between industry representatives from abroad and local musicians – with one significant new feature: for the first time, it was not the musicians but the professionals who moved from table to table.
Artists such as LOUISE KNOBIL, ELINA DUNI, JULIE CAMPICHE and Linus Meier, aka AS IN PLASTIC remained seated and described it as a relief to feel like hosts for once, rather than rushing from table to table in a constant state of self-promotion. The five-minute slots kept the conversations focused; those who needed more time could continue during the wine tasting that followed.
Although the abundance of wine raised a few smiles among some international guests, it is precisely this light-hearted blend of Western Swiss aperitif culture and professional exchange that gives this festival its special magic: the village nestled picturesquely in the hills, the sweeping view across the lake, which meets France in the distance; the shared spring stroll through the vineyards shimmering in the spring light, as well as the glitch in the matrix that briefly shook the balance of power between musicians and industry representatives, are all typical of Cully Jazz.
The next “SWISS MUSIC @ home” partnership is scheduled to take place at the “Stars in Town” festival in Schaffhausen in August 2027.
⚠️It is not possible to apply for SWISS MUSIC @ home: Participants are selected and invited on an individual basis depending on the context.
Promotion and support for Swiss film music composers
SWISS FILMS, FONDATION SUISA and SONART are joining forces and combining their expertise and resources in a structured partnership to sustainably strengthen the position of Swiss film music composers within the international film industry.
The aim is to improve the the general framework for the development, production, and international distribution of Swiss film music and to increase the visibility of composers’ artistic contributions in the audiovisual sector.
The partnership focuses on initiatives to foster the professionalization, international networking opportunities, and visibility of film music creators. These include a joint presence at international festivals and markets, as well as targeted activities to enhance the visibility of Swiss film music composers at home and abroad..
FIND OUT MORE
For further information regarding the selection of platforms and individuals, as well as the selection criteria, please contact: Fatuma Osman, Consultant Talents & Immersive Formats fosman@swissfilms.ch
SONIC MATTER Festival 2026｜26 Feb –1 Mar｜Zurich Swiss experimental music in an international network
SONIC MATTER is a festival that has been taking place in Zurich since 2021 and combines different artistic approaches in the field of sound research and music. It sees itself as a platform for new, experimental music and brings acts such as MAGDA DROZD, ENSEMBLE VORTEX, ANNE GILLOT or DIMITRI PERROT to the stage. Although the scene is still a niche one, it has been taking place in Zurich since the 1980s at venues such as the Kunstraum Walcheturm and is now represented at festivals such as SONIC MATTER and at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) at the Zurich University of the Arts.
With the SWISS MUSIC @ home programme, FONDATION SUISA, in collaboration with Pro Helvetia, invites international experts to Switzerland to network directly with local musicians and event organisers at various partner festivals. At the end of February 2026, the Zurich festival SONIC MATTER provided the setting for this: thirteen invited guests – mainly festival organisers from Europe and the Middle East – got to know the experimental Swiss scene.
This is exactly where the SWISS MUSIC @ home programme came in: The thirteen invited international representatives were given a compact insight into this lively scene, visited the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) and other central cultural venues, and learned about current projects and working methods on site. In addition, on Friday they took part in speed meetings with Swiss festival organisers at the Zurich cultural venue ‘Institut’, followed by a joint lunch.
Speed meetings with Swiss festival organisers at the Zurich cultural venue ‘Institut’
Informal encounters – such as a networking aperitif at the Kunstraum Walcheturm with invited Swiss musicians – provided additional space for discussions beyond purely booking-related issues. Participants were also able to explore the festival programme according to their own interests and discover Swiss acts directly in a concert and performance context.
The feedback was positive, with participants highlighting the pleasant group size, the open atmosphere and the attentive support provided by the festival team. SWISS MUSIC @ home proved to be an effective format at SONIC MATTER 2026 for raising the international profile of the Swiss experimental music scene and promoting long-term contacts between local and international players.
The next planned ‘SWISS MUSIC @ home’ partnership in the jazz sector is Cully Jazz in April 2026.
⚠️It is not possible to apply for SWISS MUSIC @ home: Participants are selected and invited on an individual basis depending on the context.
SWISS MUSIC @ SONIC MATTER 2026 in pictures:
SWISS MUSIC @ home am SONIC MATTER Festival
SWISS MUSIC @ home am SONIC MATTER Festival
Speed Meetings mit Schweizer Festivalorganisator*innen im Zürcher Kulturort «Institut»
SWISS MUSIC @ home am SONIC MATTER Festival
SWISS MUSIC @ home am SONIC MATTER Festival
Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST)
Between music and video: strengthening interdisciplinarity and innovation
In response to changes in the audiovisual language of the music industry, the Solothurn Film Festival is expanding its offering as part of the ‘SO PRO’ professional platform. With the support of the FONDATION SUISA, the Solothurn Film Festival will launch ‘Screen to Sound’ at the end of 2025, a new creative laboratory that will replace the ‘Best Swiss Video Clip’ competition.
‘Screen to Sound’ offers musicians and filmmakers the opportunity to present original interdisciplinary creations that bring music to life. These audiovisual creations can take many different forms, ranging from visual albums to immersive musical experiences and live projections during concerts. All ideas are welcome, especially those that dare to innovate and push the boundaries of the dialogue between sound and image.
2026 project selection
A selection of the projects submitted benefited from a day of mentoring with renowned experts from the music and audiovisual scene. At the end of the day, three projects were awarded development grants totalling CHF 10,000, which was divided between them. The day ended on a high note with a concert where music and video became one.
In January 2026, the following projects were awarded:
Since 2018, FONDATION SUISA has been awarding «Get Going!» grants to music creators who are at an artistic turning point and need time, freedom and the ability to take risks for their next step. Each year, the programme awards grants of CHF 25,000 each to projects focusing not on a finished product but on the process: research, development, reorientation. In 2025, the jury selected eight projects that stand out for their courage, artistic independence and social relevance.
Congratulations to the eight beneficiaries!
RAPHAEL LOHER & PHILIPP SCHLOTTER ｜ Well Tuned Pianos
The pianists and composers Raphael Loher and Philipp Schlotter have been active on the Swiss music scene for years as versatile musicians, working at the intersection of experimental electronic music, ambient, improvisation and collective projects.
With their project ‘Well Tuned Pianos’, they deconstruct and question something that seems self-evident: the tuning of the piano. Abandoning conventional Western scales, they explore other tonal systems, such as those found in gamelan music, where instruments are deliberately detuned in relation to each other, creating a vibrant and shimmering sound. With two other transportable pianos that have only one string per note, they explore different tunings. In addition to the tunings, the spectrum of harmonics is enriched by the preparation work. Through improvisation and experimentation, they aim to create their own tunings and transform them into a new common musical practice and a new musical language.
The jury praised this experimental approach, which places contemporary music in a new context, as well as the courage to radically deepen an existing duo’s work rather than limiting themselves to planning a new album.
Coco Schwarz is a musician and sound artist with a background in international classical music, who now devotes most of their time to electroacoustic, experimental and atmospheric music.
With their project ‘Echoes of Extinction’, Schwarz highlights animal species threatened with extinction in Switzerland – species that often go unnoticed, but which are acoustically omnipresent. In collaboration with biologists and ecologists, sounds are collected from biospheres and archives and then electroacoustically transformed so that the croaks, rustles and cries of endangered animals merge into dense soundscapes. The aim is not to create faithful naturalistic audio archives, but to create a sensory and political space in which loss and transformation become audible. Schwarz conceives of sound as a means of ecological memory and as an active artistic action.
The jury referred to a total work of art, at the crossroads of several disciplines, and highlighted the coherence with which field recordings, research on the sounds of nature and electronics are articulated around a major socio-political theme, in line with an already well-established line of work.
Simone Aubert is a guitarist, drummer, singer, composer and multidisciplinary artist. For more than twenty years, she has been evolving in a musical landscape that defies classification, combining pop, punk, electronic, folk, rock, experimental and contemporary music.
With more than 1,100 concerts on five continents under her belt, she now wants to use ‘Projets 26/27’ to reorganise her many activities and develop them in a more targeted way. She plans to release the third album of her ‘Tout Bleu’ project, followed by an international tour, the recording of a solo album and the creation of a new post-punk trio. To this end, she is developing the association ‘Phasma’, which is responsible for the administration, planning and coordination of her activities, in order to free up time for music, composition and rehearsals. She now wants to give more space and importance, for herself and the musicians around her, to the creative process than to the multiplication of concerts, allowing for more research residencies and composition time, in fair working conditions for everyone involved.
The jury highlighted the diversity of her career, her highly personal musical language and the remarkable intensity of her creative work and concerts, which are now set to flourish within a consolidated structure.
Camilla Sparksss is the alias of Swiss-Canadian musician Barbara Lehnhoff, co-founder of the indie band Peter Kernel and the label On The Camper Records. As a live artist, she is known for her energetic performances that combine experimentation, electronica, dark wave and punk.
In the project “Explore sound frequencies for healing”, she turns her previous stage energy on its head: instead of maximum volume and adrenaline, the focus is on frequencies, vibrations and sound spaces that are intended to calm, slow down and create a kind of meditative intensity. She explores how her radical sound can be transformed into a practice that targets physical and psychological effects – a kind of laboratory for healing, but by no means tame electronic music.
The jury spoke of a “punk spin-off” operating at a high artistic level and with a strong track record, and praised her international career, which will now be given an intentional space for input, research and reorientation.
KNOBIL (Louise Knobil) is a double bass player, singer and composer. She blends jazz, punk, French chanson and a unique narrative approach, tinged with humour, to create her own musical universe.
With the ‘Knobil Large Ensemble’, she expands her current trio into a sextet featuring brass, guitar and rhythm section, in a deliberately FLINTA*-dominated line-up. Her new repertoire tackles themes such as free love, patriarchal violence, ADHD, mental health and ‘pick-me’ culture – subjects more commonly found in essays or discussion threads, but which are treated here in the form of richly orchestrated jazz-punk songs carried by a strong stage energy. ‘Get Going!’ will enable her to develop compositions and arrangements during an intensive solo residency, finance rehearsals and establish the large ensemble as a stage project ready to tour in Switzerland and abroad.
The jury described her as a ‘young musician of exceptional talent’ whose career is taking off, and praised her courage in leading an ambitious project that transforms rhythm and agitation into a true artistic distillation.
LUM is a 23-year-old pop, rap and reggaeton artist of Swiss, French and Spanish origin. Dividing her time between Lausanne and Zurich, she writes songs in French and Spanish, effortlessly blending rap and singing.
With ‘Développement du projet LUM’, she wants to transform her current momentum – marked in particular by a viral freestyle in seven languages with nearly three million views, as well as numerous concerts – into a sustainable project. This development involves expanding her home studio, improving her production tools and collaborating with external producers in order to preserve a high degree of artistic freedom. At the same time, LUM wants to refine her visual universe and stage presence, so that music, images, lyrics and energy tell a coherent and unique story. Her political message, in particular her positioning as a counterweight to a rap scene still largely dominated by men, occupies a central place in her artistic approach. Finally, in 2026-2027, LUM plans to create a major project (EP, album, etc.), with the aim of developing her musical universe in parallel with the stage and unifying her entire artistic project into a strong and accomplished vision.
The jury highlighted her strong personality, the clarity of her political content and her role as a multilingual artist, capable of connecting different linguistic regions of Switzerland while providing an essential female counterpoint to the current rap scene.
Anuk Schmelcher est musicienne, productrice et artiste sonore suisse. Elle écrit, joue et produit sa musique elle-même, poursuivant de manière cohérente une pratique de production autonome avec un accent clair sur le processus de production en studio.
Avec la sortie de son premier album «Something Else» (auto-produit, 2025), elle se tourne résolument vers l’avenir. La contribution du programme « Get Going! » soutient une phase de développement artistique au cours de laquelle l’attention se concentrera clairement sur la production et l’écriture de nouvelles compositions. Anuk Schmelcher souhaite approfondir son travail avec des instruments classiques tels que batterie, synthétiseur, guitare et basse, et développer de nouvelles approches en enregistrement et design sonore pour affiner davantage son univers sonore. En parallèle, cette contribution lui offre l’espace nécessaire pour expérimenter différents formats et explorer la manière dont son projet pourra à l’avenir atteindre le public – sans pression immédiate d’attente ou de rentabilité.
Le jury a salué une musique émouvante et une production convaincante, soulignant l’importance de rendre plus visible le travail des productrices et d’expérimenter de nouveaux formats de diffusion.
Marc Méan est un pianiste et compositeur de jazz né à Vevey et installé à Zurich. Il se produit avec son trio Fields ainsi que dans des formats solo hybrides, où piano ou orgue dialoguent avec l’électronique, les boucles et le traitement en temps réel.
Dans son projet «L’orgue comme voyage de découverte», il explore l’orgue comme instrument situé entre tradition et expérimentation. Partant des improvisations de son album «Rituals», enregistré dans une église lausannoise, il poursuit désormais ses recherches sur les orgues du cimetière de Sihlfeld à Zurich, dont les sonorités sont intimement liées aux thèmes de la vie, de la mort et du souvenir. Il y développe un live set dans lequel les sons d’orgue s’entremêlent avec la synthèse granulaire, les boucles et le traitement électronique, sans basculer pour autant dans la musique classique ou purement religieuse. «Get Going!» lui offre la possibilité de rassembler ces expériences éparses, de développer une forme performative cohérente et de poser les bases d’un nouvel album solo.
Le jury a qualifié ce projet de passionnant, porté par une musique forte, qui approfondit des travaux existants et révèle un pianiste de jazz empruntant des chemins singuliers et résolument expérimentaux.
The Demotape Clinic is a radar for new Swiss music and one of the most important competitions for emerging artists in the country. It helps them build their community and develop their network. Winners receive cash prizes, valuable visibility and key contacts within the music scene. Once again this year, the m4music pop music festival and FONDATION SUISA are jointly searching for the artists of tomorrow:
DEMOS WANTED The deadline for submitting tracks for the Demotape Clinic 2026 expired on 21 December 2025.
PRE JURY SESSION Two genre experts per category listen to all submissions and select the 61 artists who will go through to the next round.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF SELECTED ARTISTS The 61 selected artists will be announced and invited to the m4music festival to take part in the live jury sessions.
LIVE JURY SESSIONS & AWARD SHOW A selection of the most promising tracks in the categories pop, rock, lyrics & beats, electro and out of genre will be presented on 20 and 21 March 2026 at the m4music festival in Zurich.
The winners will receive FONDATION SUISA Awards worth a total of CHF 20,000 and benefit from direct feedback from music industry professionals.
Their music will be played on various partner radio stations and, above all, they will be the centre of attention on the Swiss music scene. The winners will also be able to take advantage of the Migros Culture Percentage’s ‘Double’ coaching programme.
In view of Urs Schnell’s retirement in September 2026, the Foundation Board has appointed
Mr Fabio Baechtold as the new Director of FONDATION SUISA.
Congratulations!
Fabio Baechtold has been managing director of the Bern-based jazz promoter “BeJazz” since 2007 and has also coordinated the “Suisse Diagonales Jazz” festival on a part-time basis since 2017. He was a member of the City of Bern’s Music Commission for eight years and later also became its chair. He has extensive experience in music promotion and, as a SUISA member, is also very familiar with all important copyright issues.
Fabio Baechtold will take up his post on 1 July 2026 – the entire team and the Foundation Board are looking forward to working with him.
PS.: Further information will follow at a later date.
Wir fördern Schweizer Musik!
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