Ruedi Häusermann

Inventor of a music-theatrical language

Ruedi Häusermann is a musician, composer and director. Born in Lenzburg in 1948, he has spent decades developing an art form that combines written music and improvisation with theatrical ideas. Central to this is an underlying atmosphere of good humor.

Häusermann discovered the clarinet through the cadet band. He has been passionate about jazz since childhood and was playing in Pepe Lienhard’s first big band whilst still a pupil at high school. This was followed by a degree in economics, then in music with a focus on the flute. Since the 1990s, the Aargau-born artist has been staging musical theatre works, including at the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Volksbühne in Berlin and the Münchner Kammerspiele. Häusermann’s piano and string quartets run like a thread through all his works.

His sources of inspiration are people, particularly the world of children and the natural surroundings of his studio on the Goffersberg. To this day, Ruedi Häusermann lives with his family in Lenzburg, where he organizes the “Zwischenräume” concert series for improvised contemporary music. Häusermann’s latest play, entitled Du denkst vielleicht, was hör ich da, und ich sage dir – es ist die Waschmaschine, is currently running at the Schauspielhaus Zürich. Subtle humor remains a constant companion to the seriousness of his work.

Excerpt from the jury statement

Ruedi Häusermann enchants his audience. Leaving one of his performances, the world suddenly seems a little more at peace.