May 2026 / News, Press Releases
The Swiss Jazz Award 2026 goes to Manon Mullener
The Swiss Jazz Award 2026, a distinction dedicated to outstanding personalities of Swiss Jazz, will this year be awarded to pianist and composer Manon Mullener. The award ceremony will take place on July 2, as a prelude to the artist’s concert at the JazzAscona festival.
The pianist born in Fribourg Switzerland will be honoured on 2 July at JazzAscona
The Swiss Jazz Award 2026, a distinction dedicated to outstanding personalities of Swiss Jazz, will this year be awarded to pianist and composer Manon Mullener. The award ceremony will take place on July 2, as a prelude to the artist’s concert at the JazzAscona festival.
Presented annually as part of JazzAscona, the prize recognises established and emerging Swiss musicians active on the international scene.
According to the jury statement, Manon Mullener “has distinguished herself through her intense concert activity, both as a solo pianist and as the leader of her own ensemble. In recent years, her career has shown steady and remarkable growth, leading her to perform on major international Jazz stages and establishing her as a leading figure in the Swiss Jazz landscape.”
Alongside this trajectory stands a constant artistic creativity as a performer, storyteller, composer and producer, also evident in her recorded work, reflecting a distinctive and continually evolving musical voice.
Born in Fribourg in 1997, Mullener grew up in a family of musicians and began playing the piano at the age of four. At 17, she turned to Jazz and Afro-Cuban music, which she further explored in Havana. She later studied at the Bern University of the Arts and won the international SOFIA award in 2022.
Following her debut album Reflejos (2019), she founded the Manon Mullener 5tet, blending modern Jazz with Afro-Cuban influences. The album Insomnia (2023) brought the group on an international tour, while her most recent release, Stories (2025), has been widely appreciated for its energy and originality.
The Swiss Jazz Award 2026 will be presented on 2 July, on the occasion of the first of the artist’s three concerts at JazzAscona. Established in 2007, the award is presented each year during the festival (25 June – 4 July 2026). Recent recipients include Bruno Spoerri, Franco Ambrosetti, Othella Dallas, Nolan Quinn, Christoph Grab, the Swiss Jazz Orchestra and Elina Duni.
