In the beginning there was curiosity. So many sounds out there in the world waiting to be
discovered. So many fellow musicians to be met. So many ways to look at music, to play
music, to write music. Anna Koch, bass clarinettist and improviser from Austria, has
dedicated her life to exploring the countless facets of what contemporary music can be.
Her new solo programme is a selection of pieces she collected while travelling around
the world.
Anna Koch is an Austrian clarinet and bass clarinet player. As a professional musician, she specializes in contemporary and improvised music.
As a member of numerous New Music ensembles, Anna Koch knows how to blend in, however she is just as confident on the stage all by herself. Her eclectic compositions are frequently accompanied by funky videos showing her, for example, with braids and dirndl underneath a wall of antlers, thus turning stale clichés upside down. Or, she creates a mysterious atmosphere diving in a fog-filled indoor pool.
It all comes down to a truly playful mind with an urge to explore the gamut of both her instrument and her imagination. After studies in clarinet performance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, she received the Startstipendium Musik grant in 2020 from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture. In 2022 she had the premiere of her solo program BASSticcio. The same year, she was selected as an Artist for NASOM, the New Austrian Sound of Music 2023/24.
Touring the world with photographer and editor Sebastian Schmid for their project ‘Connecting the Dots‘ that combines musical and cultural exchange with environmental consciousness.