Susanne Abbuehl and Mirjam Hässig

Photo: Maxim François

Susanne Abbuehl (b. 1970 in Bern, NL/CH) studied jazz singing with Rachel Gould and Jeanne Lee, composition with Diderik Wagenaar, and classical Indian singing with Prabha Atre at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Since 1999 she has been involved in teaching and research at various universities. She is passionate about art and education. Her releases for ECM Records have won prestigious awards, and she was honoured with the 2017 European Jazz Musician Award and the 2016 Swiss Music Prize. In addition to singing, she also teaches ensembles and is particularly interested in the interaction between music and words (setting to music, sound poetry, rap, spoken word). As a mentor, she draws on her many years of wide-ranging experience and focuses on the goals and affinities of her mentees. She loves invention and enjoys accompanying mentees on their very own paths.

Photo: Isabelle Schoenholzer

Mirjam Hässig, born in 1995 and raised in Burgdorf (CH), studied performance and pedagogy in jazz and contemporary music at the Bern University of the Arts, where she works as a singer and songwriter. In 2019, she founded her own quartet Ayé! and in the same year she won the Burgdorf Culture Promotion Prize. In November 2021, Ayé!'s debut album “Coralland” was released by the Basel label HOUT Records. The quartet is currently working with Esther Sévérac (harp), Nadav Erlich (double bass), Nicolas Bianco (drums and electronics) on their second album, which will be released on 4 October 2024 at Sägegasse Burgdorf. Since 2021, she has been a member of the jury of the Cultural Commission of the Burgergemeinde Burgdorf and teaches at the Zollikofen/Bremgarten Music School.