Dorothea Schürch is an internationally acclaimed singer and performer who crosses disciplinary boundaries in the fields of music, performance, and theatre. She holds two master’s degrees – one in Contemporary Art Practice from HKB Bern and another in Arts Research from the University of Bern – and completed her PhD, Empty Voices – Pre- and Post-Linguistic Transformation of Voices, which investigated avant-garde vocal practices of the 1960s. A key component of her research was the development of Audioscoring, a unique method she created to analyze and interpret these vocal experiments. Currently working as a postdoctoral fellow, her research focuses on avant-garde vocal music in Japan during the 1960s. Dorothea’s pioneering work has been recognized with numerous awards.

​

Considering Nara a vast, beautiful garden, a Japanese garden. And, as in Japanese gardens, paying close attention to the soundscape. In her ongoing research on avant-garde tape music in Japan of the1960s, Dorothea Schürch often encounters compositional practices referred to as a “this... and this... and this,” allowing each sound element to exist in its own space – not through organization or hierarchy, but by placing one element after another – emblematic of the Japanese capacity to intertwine innovation and tradition, avant-garde experimentation, and contemplative practices. During her residency, Dorothea Schürch is exploring the soundscape of Nara, walking and listening, hearing ‘this and this and this’.