Gershwin Piano Quartet

André Desponds is one of the few pianists who feel equally at home in a Bach fugue, a Chopin Ballade and Gershwin's «I Got Rhythm». At the early age of 16 he was admitted to the class of Sava Savoff at the Musikhochschule Zürich and has since been awarded numerous prizes in national and international competitions. André Desponds has performed in many international venues, including the Gasteig, Munich, the St. Petersburg Philharmony and the UN Headquarters in New York. He has made recordings for Swiss television and radio as well as a number of CD-productions and collaborates regularly with many noted artists, such as Noëmi Nadelmann, Simon Estes, Andreas Vollenweider and Bettina Boller.

In addition, André Desponds has developed a wide spectrum of musical activities as a jazz improviser, silent film accompanist and as a composer for theatre and film. Some of his projects have included the founding of the Gershwin Piano Quartet (1996), the theatrical project «L'homme orchestre» with the Clown Dimitri at the Lucerne Festival as well as numerous educational orchestra presentations. In 2006, together with the dancer Andrea Herdeg, he created «Zal», a play based on the life and music of Frédéric Chopin that combines elements of music, dance and theatre. André Desponds is a professor for improvisation and chamber music at the Zurich University of the Arts.

andre@gershwinpianoquartet.com
www.herdegdesponds.ch