Andreas Schaerer is a Swiss jazz vocalist and composer, performing internationally, and an academic teacher. He founded the sextet 'Hildegard Lernt Fliegen' and collaborated with notable international musicians, including Bobby McFerrin for the improvised opera Bobble.
Life and work
Born in Visp, Schaerer grew up in Emmental and Wallis. He studied at the Lehrerseminar in Hofwil, and received the patent for primary school and Realschule in 1997. He became guitar player for the punk bandHektor lebt. Schaerer travelled extensively in South America. From 2000 and 2006, he studied at the Hochschule der Künste Bern, voice with and Denise Bregnard, improvisation with Andy Scherrer, and composition with, Christian Henking and. He founded his own projects, such as the sextet ', touring a Europe up to Russia, and also to China. He writes for the sextet "skurrile Programme zwischen Kunstlied und aberwitzig-vertrackten Spielereien". He improvises in duos, with the bassist and with the percussionist. He has performed in trio with Martin Eberle and the guitarist Peter Rom, and with Christoph Steiner and Claude Meier. Schaerer is also active as a studio musician and composer in a variety of styles including free style and hip-hop, and writing music for computer games and animated films. In 2009 and 2010, he collaborated with Bobby McFerrin for the improvised opera Bobble in Basel and Moscow. He has appeared with Soweto Kinch, Christy Dorans New Bag, ', Kaspar Ewald's Exorbitantes Kabinett,, Colin Vallon, Elina Duni and Joe Haider. In 2017, he invited by Michael Wollny, then artist in residence of the Rheingau Musik Festival, to play at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden a concert with also saxophonist Émile Parisien and accordionist Vincent Peirani. A reviewer noted that he is interested, as the others, to expand the spectrum of his "instrument", and described his excentric-capricious vocal improvisations bordering percussive sounds, and a sometime "sacred" touch in the high register. Schaerer co-founded in 2007 with Marc Stucki and Benedikt Reising the Berner Jazzwerkstatt. He has taught at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern from 2009, jazz vocals, improvisation and ensemble playing.
Schaerer is known for his eclectic array of vocal styles, and is noted for incorporating multiple techniques into one song. He is noted for his extensive scat singing, and his wide variety of vocal timbres which include opera, crooning, soul, and sprechgesang. He is also noted for his usage of beatboxing, which he has been known to use as the primary percussive accompaniment in a number of his songs, occasionally while singing simultaneously. He often incorporates the Mouth trumpet technique, into his songs, harmonizing with the horn sections, of his groups.
Discography
Hildegard Lernt Fliegen, mit Roman Bieri, Katrin Lo Cher, Matthias Wenger, Patrick Schnyder, Marco Mueller, Christoph Steiner, 2007
Vom fernen Kern der Sache, with,, Matthias Wenger, Patrick Schnyder, Marco Muller, Christoph Steiner, 2009
schibboleth, with Bänz Oester, 2010)
At the Age of Six I Wanted to Be a Cook, Rom/Schaerer/Eberle, 2013
