In the first half of the 20th century both Ernst Bloch (1880-1959) and especially Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) made important contributions to choral music, as did the lesser-known Willy Burkhard (1900-55). Unfortunately, little of their work now appears on concert programmes in Switzerland or anywhere else. The music of Frank Martin (1890-1974) (the subject of a recent article in Choir & Organ), who was Swiss born, though he spent much of his life living in the Netherlands, has on the other hand had a considerable impact, his Mass for Double Choir for example, though again his larger choral/orchestral pieces are rather neglected.

Swiss composers born in the first half of the last century, such as Conrad Beck (1901-89), Heinrich Sutermeister (1910-95) and Rudolf Kelterborn (1931-2021), are remembered as composers of music for the stage and for orchestra with only a passing interest in choral music, although Sutermeister’s impressive Missa da Requiem (1953) was championed by no less a figure than Herbert von Karajan. In the later 1900s a new generation of composers that were also choral conductors and organists felt moved to provide music for the increasing numbers of high-level and amateur choirs that were developing from the 1950s/60s.

Thüring Bräm (b1944) is a major figure in Swiss music, as a conductor, pianist, composer and teacher, holding senior posts at the Musik-Akademie, Basel and both the Lucerne Conservatory and Musikhochschule. Bräm’s acute ear for colour and texture have led to many of his works featuring unusual combinations of voices and instruments, as well as the setting of perhaps unexpected texts – Sechs Haiku (1969) for choir, string trio and vibraphone; Ubergange/Transitions (2007) for choir and pipa (a sort of Chinese lute) and one of his largest works Litteri un Schatta/Luci e ombre (1996), an oratorio with chamber orchestra, with a text in four languages. More conventional are his Piccolo Madrigali (1996), Drei Leider (1979), written for the virtuoso voices of the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, and pieces for children’s choirs, Cat Songs (1977) and Children’s Songs of the American Indian (1979).

André Ducret (1945-2025) was a professional tenor as well as pedagogue and conductor, and a key presence in the development of Swiss choral life. His music mostly consists of shorter choral suites, arrangements of spirituals, folksongs, many of which have become popular with French speaking choirs – pieces spiced with a rather Poulencian wit, melancholy and flair, that show an inside understanding of what choirs of all kinds are capable of. Carl Rutti (b1949) is an organist and composer whose music has had a good deal of exposure in English speaking countries. He studied in the UK and has been championed by the BBC Singers, the Bach Choir (London), for whom he wrote his impressive Requiem (2007), and the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge – his quirky and individual take on I Wonder as I Wander (1996), has been a staple of the Service of Lessons and Carols for several years – he also composed De Virgine Maria for the 2014 Service. His music, while clearly influenced by the English choral tradition of Vaughan Williams and Howells, sprinkles a little blues, jazz and gospel music and yet retains a most distinctive personality.

Rutti has composed many short sacred works that reflect his own religious faith, as well more substantial works such as Alpha and Omega (1994), written for the BBC Symphony Chorus; Stabat Mater (1998) and the intriguing Mysterium Montis (2016) for choir and Alphorns, an extraordinary re-imagining of sacred choral works from Gabrieli’s Venice, replacing a brass choir with the sound of the Austrian Alps.

Caroline Charrière (1960-2018) began her musical life as a flautist but turned to composition, forming and conducting the female choir Choeur de Jade. She took care to expand the repertoire for high-voice choirs, while not neglecting mixed voice choirs with works such as Credo (1998), Anima Mea (2010) and her oratorio Le Livre de Job (2001). Relevant for this journal is Charrière’s Organ Concerto, a striking contribution to a genre not over-populated with significant works.

The large output of the German-born but now Swiss resident conductor, arranger and composer Burkhard Kinzler (1963) is inspired by all manner of music – folksong, jazz and the many choral traditions around the world, as can be grasped by the titles of just some of his works – Bruckner-Brucke 1 (2022), a cycle of three motets written to be sung alongside those of the Austrian master; Herbstsynkope (2016), to be sung in between/alongside Brahms’s Funf Gesänge Op 104; Ubermalung nach Thomas Tallis (Overpainting after Thomas Tallis) (2007) and Hinter den Dingen (Behind Things), written as a companion piece for the Mozart Requiem. The sheer breadth of Kinzler’s musical imagination is further demonstrated by his Die Welt ist fort (The World is gone) (2001) for 16 virtuoso solo voices, Jazz Mass (2007), a Jazz Motet ‘Jesus meine Freune’ (2002), and even a piece for Flashmob Choir – Remembering Nature (2022).

The advanced musical languages of Klaus Huber (1924-2017) and Heinz Holliger (b1939), (also of course a virtuoso oboist and conductor) and the sheer technical difficulty of their music mean that it is only performable by a small number of professional groups. Despite this, Holliger’s Dona nobis pacem (1969) and his Machaut transcription/elaboration Lay VII (2006) in particular provide an extraordinary and absorbing listening experience.

At the other end of the musical spectrum is the work of Ivo Antognini (b1963), Cyrill Schurch (b1974) and Valentin Villard (b1985), three composers whose rhapsodic sound worlds follow the lead of much of the accessible and popular choral music from the UK and the US that has had such an impact in the early 2000s. It was working with the celebrated Swiss children’s choir Coro Calicantus that diverted Antognini (Swiss born but now living in Italy), from his chosen path as a composer of music for film and television and prompted him to concentrate almost exclusively on choral works. His best-known piece O magnum mysterium (2010) gives listeners an idea of his style, a natural melodic gift, long phrases and often dense textures that pit solo voices against the main body of the choir, as in the striking Jubilate Deo (2015) and Salve Regina (2020) that show a more rhythmic and driven side to Antognini’s work.

Although Schurch also often turns to familiar sacred texts, he does not neglect the need for the secular. Many of these pieces are in his native German, but also significant are The Song of the Star (2023) and Moonlight, Summer Moon-Light (2023), with a jazz-tinged piano accompaniment, well within the capabilities of a more modest choir. Villard, another choir director and organist, this time the French speaking region of the country is a prolific composer whose catalogue includes many motets/anthems, as well the substantial Magnificat (2014) and Deux tableaux de Sainte Marguerite Bays (2023) for choruses, piano and brass band, all again, showing a debt to the French choral and organ tradition.

Space restricts any possibility of mentioning a large number of composers that are worth investigating but the links below will help those that are interested in further discoveries.

This feature originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of Choir & Organ – Subscribe today