Ralph Zurmuhle

Ralph Zurmuhle

Barcelona / Tucson

“Zurmühle’s music explores the sonority of the piano masterfully and reaches a technical and artistic dimension only achievable by the finest contemporary piano works.” -  YAMAHA Spain

“25 years after the glory days of the solo piano genre sparked by artists like Keith Jarrett and George Winston, the solo piano album remains an elusive undertaking: very easy to do - very hard to do well. Swiss pianist Ralph Zurmühle is one of those rare artists, who does it sublimely well, with great sensitivity to touch, melody, and ambience. Listen and you will find yourself in the hands of a master.” (Stephen Hill, Producer of Hearts of Space Radio, 2011)
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Ralph Zurmühle, Swiss composer and pianist, discovered his natural ability for the piano at the age of five. He fostered his talent over decades with jazz and classical music training in Zurich and Liechtenstein. Ralph currently resides in the province of Barcelona and is a Yamaha Artist (Spain). 

Imbued with subtle changes of tempo and nuance and crossing various musical genres, Zurmühle’s compositions maintain the intuitive feeling of improvised music. With great sensitivity to touch, he combines fluidity and freedom with refinement and development; resulting in graceful melodies, sublime sound textures and introspective ambiences. Ralph’s 6 CDs, composed in the genre of contemporary post-classical piano, have been met with international critical acclaim and received multiple nominations and awards. His fourth album eQuinox is produced by Valley Entertainment (Hearts of Space Records), New York.  

For the past 30 years he has been offering solo piano concerts in Europe and the United States, performing mostly his own compositions.

During 2017 and 2018 Ralph has performed in a series of benefit concerts for Syrian refugees organized by Horizon for Syrians (Royal Artistic Circle, Barcelona and Kursaal, Manresa etc.) 

In 2012 he shared the stage with Peter Kater and David Dorantes in the Second International Piano Festival in Burgos, Spain.

September and October 2013 marked his concert tour in Catalonia in collaboration with Yamaha Europe.

Since 1985 he has scored music for film, documentaries, television programs, theater and multimedia productions, among these:

New Music for Classic Silent Films series - Institute of Modern Art, Valencia, Spain
Momix-Alchemy - company of dancer illusionists from the U.S. (international tour 2013-2016) 
All Secrets - award-winning feature film by Tomas Suski (U.K.)
L’horitzó - multimedia project with sculptor Manuel Solà (Metrònom, Barcelona and the International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Almería, Spain) 
The Appalachian Trail, An American Legacy - documentary by Sam Henegar
Piano - documentary about the Piano Extremist (Kiev’s Maiden Square) by Vita Maria Drygas
Norró - documentary by Pere Herms for SpanishTV La 2

Ralph’s website page:  http://www.ralphpiano.com
Composer show reel:   https://youtu.be/rwxCi5r1rqc
Yamaha Artist Page (Spain):  https://es.yamaha.com/es/artists/r/ralph_zurmuhle.html

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“As it is with great music, Zurmühle’s music creates silence. We are left in silence, silence opens around us. And within this vast desert, a journey begins, a journey of adventure and discovery, but also a journey of return.” (Andrés Ibañez, classical music critic of ABC, Madrid, 2012)

Artist Blog

  • The Horizon

    Audiovisual project on sculpture at Metrònom, Barcelona, and International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Almería, Spain, 2006 L’horitzó (in English: The Horizon) is a…

  • Norró, historia de una ablación

    Documentary for National Spanish TV La2, Barcelona, Spain, 2005 Synopsis This documentary explains the story of Norró…

  • All Secrets

    All Secrets is a feature film by Tomas Suski, music score by Ralph Zurmuhle. So far, it has won numerous prizes. For further information, please go to the production blog. Video clip…