Esther Bächlin

Esther Bächlin is a Lecturer at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) within the School of Music, specifically affiliated with the Institute for Jazz and Folk Music. She has taught jazz piano, improvisation, and popular music courses at both HSLU and Zurich University of Music since 1995, and served as a repetiteur in HSLU's jazz department since 2003.

Her educational foundation includes eight years of classical music instruction followed by studies at St. Gallen Jazz Vocational School until 1989. She received piano training from Art Lande and Uli Scherer (jazz) and Elena Szirmai (classical), alongside vocal instruction from Malcolm Green, Renata Friederich, and Lauren Newton.

Bächlin's artistic work spans reggae, freestyle, classical, and free improvisation, with a distinct focus on synthesizing classical structures with jazz and improvisational techniques. Since 1984, she has performed internationally with renowned artists including Marilyn Mazur, Ingrid Jensen, and Wolfgang Puschnig, and toured with the Vienna Art Orchestra's Fe&Males project (1989–1991). Her creative output emphasizes boundary-crossing compositions that merge written notation with spontaneous expression.

In 2006, she secured a grant from the Canton of Lucerne for her collaborative project 'inspiring music-in-between' with John Voirol and Lauren Newton. Recent highlights include the 2023 album 'BeLonging' with Elkholy, a scheduled December 2024 radio broadcast of her ffff-Festival Wädenswil 2024 concert on SRF 2 Kultur, and an upcoming educational booklet 'First Steps In Piano Improvisation'.