Name: Fabian Ziegler
Occupation: Percussionist
Nationality: Swiss
Current release: Fabian Ziegler's Modern Gods is out March 3rd 2023. Pre-order the album via Fabian's personal bandcamp store.
Recommendations: Of course, this might sound very patriotic for a Swiss person, but I just finished the book The Maestro by Christopher Clarey about Roger Federer which I would highly recommend.
As I'll mention in this interview, I am very interested in sports, and also in everything that is happening outside the court. It is very inspiring and interesting to see how his career was growing, how much time, passion and energy he needed to get where he was and is and what things needed to be done besides playing tennis on the court.

If you enjoyed this interview with Fabian Ziegler and would like to find out more about his work and recent concert dates, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I had my first percussion lesson when I was 9 years old. My father has been conducting wind bands, this is how I saw a lot of different instruments and percussion immediately caught my attention.

In the early years I played a lot in wind and brass bands and I loved it. So I was also able to play a lot of different repertoire on a high level of amateur bands.

Through my father, music has been always part of my life and I realised and felt early on what amazing effect music can have.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

When I listen to music, I mostly have pictures in my head. Or it just allows me to not think anything. It can really calm me down in stressful times and it allows me to get a free head for my music making again.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Finding myself as an artist was not very easy for me. I firstly wanted to get an orchestra job but after 1.5 years of studies I started to be interested more in solo and chamber music.

I was always curious about less known or unknown repertoire. This led myself being interested and starting to commission new pieces for percussion solo, chamber music and also concertos. Some of commissioned pieces, like “RealBadNow” by John Psathas, which is also on my new album, speaks out loudly also what and how I think and feel, it is very personal, very close to me – I would say like my personal style and voice.



In general, the collaboration with John Psathas is definitely a breakthrough for me because – not only is his musical language a terrific and capturing world. But we also became true friends.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I find it extremely important to be authentic on stage. You can feel an influence from my previous teachers but I never tried to be a copy them. Especially as a listener I cannot enjoy a performance if I see the artist wanting to be someone else on stage – and this still happens a lot.

Those thoughts also influence my development as a player, choice of repertoire and creation of new projects.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

I want my music to speak, to live. To give a chance for my audience to reflect their own emotions, fears, thoughts, ideas. People are coming to concerts because they want to explore, feel something, what they maybe never felt before. Or maybe they did, but music is precisely the space where they can explore this magic again.

Music itself already contains so many emotions. But to share it and to make sure that it finds its own reflection on every single person in the room - that’s the challenge of being an artist. And that’s what I also love about my job.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I totally stand for music FOR the future. It doesn’t mean that I would play only contemporary music. But as music is developing through time, the way of people catching emotions, reacting to it also changed.

For example, music in Mozart's time had different functions and brought different emotions, ideas, questions as it does today.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Some of the most important things for me are not only working hard, but also having time to reflect music itself, life, emotions, thoughts, as well as to give time for body and mind to recover from the hard work. It is very hard to find the right balance and is an ongoing process. It is important, though, since I see my musical career more as a marathon, not as a sprint.

Also an important and interesting tool of my professional development as a musician is mental training. It helps me both in my daily work and routine and also on stage.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I try to get up at 7am, have a coffee with my wife and breakfast after. I love to work in 2 or 3 hour shifts in my practice room. So on a “free” day with no meetings, rehearsals or something else, I try to practice at least 3 hours in the morning, and work on the computer for an hour before lunch. After lunch I am going for a short walk in the forest close to where I live. In the afternoon I again try to work maybe 3 hours, little break and then another 2 hours.

After my working day routine I try to get some rest for my body and mind in the evening. I try to stick to a certain rhythm in my daily life. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

The process of this album Modern Gods was special for me.

Compared to my debut album, it was such a long journey. I started working with John Psathas on all those pieces in 2018. It was interesting to also be a part of the creative process when choosing the instrumentation, talking about topics of the pieces, hearing the thoughts of the composer and working on the music together with him.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I love the mix of both, to be on my own and work on my own projects but also to share the stage and the process with chamber music partners.

I think, having your own time to work on music is great, but you also need some feedback to make things even better. I always find it extremely helpful to get an input from “outside” - sometimes you might not see some things from a distance on your own because maybe you are too close, to personally involved to a piece or a program.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

This album Modern Gods is a great reflection how I feel and see music, what its role is– it is not only about giving or translating emotions. It is also a tool to try to catch and focus attention on important topics.

On Modern Gods such topics as the individualization of our society, how technology is extending its influence on our life and common questions are brought to the discussion and (self)reflection. I think that’s an important point what we can do with our music.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

I think as an artist you are always putting your energy and your emotions in what you do.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

Personally I am not having this strong connection between music and science.

But there is a field with which I often make connections: sports. There are so many parallels between those two fields and there are so many things we can learn from sport and athletes.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think it is both going into the same direction – in each of those things we need to have passion and love for it. And we need the will to make the best possible.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

And it is even more fascinating with percussion instruments!

For example, with drums or marimba - if one is sitting in a concert hall (and also closer to those instruments), a person not only hears but also feels the vibration.

It can be such a powerful experience to feel and hear something.