BIOGRAPHY

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​Lea Gasser is a freelance accordionist and composer who grew up in Zurich. Fascinated by the versatility of her instrument, she lets it take on different roles in various projects and gives it a very personal and intimate expression through her own compositions.
In 2014, the accordionist completed her bachelor's degree in classical music with Teodoro Anzellotti at the HKB in Bern. From 2019-2021, she followed the Master's program in Jazz Performance & Composing at HEMU in Lausanne, with Denis Croisonnier, Matthieu Michel and Philip Henzi.

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As leader of her Lea Gasser 5tet, she has been playing her own jazz compositions since 2020. Music that is characterised by catchy and lyrical melodies, cheeky bass lines and dreamy character. The group released its first album "L'Heure Bleue" in 2022, was selected for the "Suisse Diagonales Jazz 2024" festival and won the prestigious ZKB Jazzpreis in 2024. In 2020, Lea also co-founded the duo OXEON with singer Sylvie Klijn, which released its first album "Somewhere Far" in collaboration with SONNA Records and ANUK Label in 2023. The duo combines their own compositions with arrangements of classical works, refined by effect pedals. The album "Somewhere Far" was nominated for the Dutch national prize Edison Klassiek in 2024. In the same year she is part of the new improvisation quintet The Optics - Hässig/Stucki/Gasser/Pärli/Steiner ("The Optics", 2023) as co-leader. Lea is sidewoman of the Thomas Dürst Trio ("Other Songs", 2021 & "Plötzlich ging die Sonne aus", 2023) and the Tzupati Orchestra ("Half A Dozen", 2023).

 

In recent years, the musician has been able to present her music in renowned Swiss jazz clubs and at prestigious festivals in Switzerland and abroad: Schaffhausen Jazz Festival 2024, Vienna International Accordion Festival 2024, Suisse Diagonales Jazz 2024, Micro Jazz Festival Die letzten Tage Bern, Festival JazzContreBand 2023, Langnau Jazz Nights 2023, Festival de la Valsainte 2023, Festival Riposte Lausanne 2021 and others.
In June/July 2024, the musician was Artist in Residency in Iceland, at the Fish Factory and NES AiR.

Interdisciplinary projects are also important for her artistic work. In the season of 2021/22, Lea worked as a musician/actress with Julie Burnier and the theatre group Mezza-Luna on the anarchist feminist play Les dix petites anarchistes. Since 2023 she has been part of the Pendula Ensemble as an accordionist/composer/arranger - an ensemble for new music, contemporary dance and installation. In the same year, she is part of Nicolas Gurtner and Jérôme Jeanrenaud's Rencontres Arrangées, a performance between jazz, contemporary music and spoken word. In 2023/24, the artist worked primarily as an arranger and composer with Rio Wolta and Daniel Hobi from Zurich on the production "all you can hear": the Neumarkt Theatre is to sound for 3 hours - an installation with 47 accordionists and 4 singers.

 

Lea was an accordion teacher at the Olten Music School and gives private lessons.