Biography
The Swiss-Icelandic pianist Tanja Hotz was born in Haifa, Israel and grew up in the canton of Zug in Switzerland. She received piano lessons from her mother at an early age and made her first attempts at composing.
From the age of seven, she studied with Madeleine Hoppe-Nussbaumer at the Music School of the City of Zug. In addition to piano, she also devoted herself to the violin, flute, voice and cello, as well as to music theory and composition. She took part in masterclasses in piano, composition and chamber music. She won several prizes at the Swiss Youth Music Competition in both piano and composition.
After graduating from high school, she continued her piano studies, this time with Adrian Oetiker at the Basel Academy of Music. She additionally studied composition with Georg Friedrich Haas and improvisation with Rudolf Lutz. In 2014, Tanja completed her bachelor's degree with distinction. This was followed by a master’s degree in Piano Performance at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, which she completed in 2016 where she achieved top marks. She continued and furthered her studies in composition and music theory with Martin Lichtfuss at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where she also deepened her pianistic training with Lilya Zilberstein.
Beyond her music, Tanja also finds expression in the visual arts. Inspired by nature, she photographs, draws and paints – often guided by forms, colors and structures she observes in the natural environment. A particular focus of her artistic work lies in her interdisciplinary approach: She combines interpretation, composition and visual art. As part of her master’s project at the Zurich University of the Arts – where she completed her Master’s degree in music education mentored by Eckart Heiligers in 2020 – she organised a concert that combined music, poetry and painting by performing Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit and Robert Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, accompanied by a presentation of her own thematic paintings.
Tanja Hotz has been sharing her passion and knowledge as a piano teacher at the Basel Academy of Music since August 2020.
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