Pius Baumgartner

Pius Baumgartner - born December 25th, 1967 in Lugano - began clarinet lessons at the age of 8 under the unforgettable Dumeng Morell. With Morell he learned the basics of music and eventually mastered the instrument. As well as clarinet he started playing the saxophone at the young age of 10.

After his studies at the Zurich Conservatory of Music in 1988, he graduated from the Swiss Jazz School in St.Gallen in 1995. In 1996 he continued to study saxophone and flute with Tim Price in New York.

His international career began with engagements in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Puerto Rico, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Ankara and Prague. He worked with international well known musicians as Carmen Bradford (Voc. 4 Grammy-Awards with Count Basie Big-band), Donna Summer, Eric Marienthal, Brad leali, Amik Guerra, Francis Coletta, Frantisek Uhlir, Reggie Johnson, Roman Dylag, Andrea Tofanelli and others more.

In Switzerland Pius Baumgartner was a member of the Swiss Army Big-band under the legendary Pepe Lienhard and has won some well known cultural promotion awards (Swiss Jazz-Award 2009 / "Ländlerstar" 2007). He works mostly as a freelancer, composer, teacher and recording artist (saxophones /clarinet & flute).

His musical roots are the swiss Folkmusic, but he's also proficient in contemporary jazz, working with the "Bodan Art-Orchestra" or the "Dani Felber Big-band-Explosion" and enjoys playing his own music with the "Baumgartner Jazz-Q."

Pius plays on the RZ Bohema