Sarah Buechi wins the Moods-Aïda Alliman Prize
Since 2016, Moods Zurich has been awarding the Moods-Aïda Alliman Prize in collaboration with the Aïda Alliman Foundation. Each year, this prize provides financial support to a musician from Switzerland or Liechtenstein and also gives them the opportunity to perform at Moods. This year, the jury selected Sarah Buechi as the winner.
A total of 28 applications were received for the latest edition of the Moods-Aïda Alliman Prize, which is endowed with 20,000 Swiss francs. These were thoroughly reviewed by the three-member expert jury. Applicants had to submit a letter of motivation and their artistic plans, with the continuity of their work to date and their potential for development being important criteria in the evaluation.
The winner was Sarah Buechi, a well-traveled singer and composer from Central Switzerland known as a “globetrotter,” with her vision of a “sound ensemble for singers” modeled on the big band format. She impressed the expert jury with her cross-scene approach and the inclusion of the reality of younger, aspiring singers in her vision for the future. The expert jury added: “Her long-term vision of an institutionalized vocal ensemble has great potential for a lasting impact. This means that this year's award could support not only the applicant, but potentially a large number of others as well.”
Work without financial pressure
The prize money from the Moods-Aïda Alliman Award is intended to enable the musicians receiving support to work freely over a longer period of time and relieve them of the pressure to deliver immediate results. Sarah Buechi would like to use this to further develop her idea of collaborating with voices, writing compositions for this purpose, and trying them out.
The singer says: "After immersing myself in Swiss mythology with ‘pink mountain sagas’, I would like to continue exploring my roots. Incorporating the larger sound of the choir is, on the one hand, a compositional experiment for me and, on the other hand, a return to important influences from my childhood. The music should look at the Swiss cultural heritage of mountain stories through the eyes of the 21st century."
In addition to the prize money, Sarah Buechi will have the opportunity to perform a project of her choice at Moods during the coming concert season.
Congratulations Sarah, Well deserved!
Written by Marian Märki