Swiss Jazz Award 2026 goes to Manon Mullener
This year's Swiss Jazz Award, which is presented annually at JazzAscona, goes to pianist and composer Manon Mullener.
Born in Freiburg in 1997, grew up Mullener grew up in a family of musicians and began playing the piano at the age of four. At the age of 17, she turned to jazz and Afro-Cuban musical traditions, which she studied in Havana. She then studied at the Bern University of the Arts and won the international SOFIA prize in 2022.
After their debut album Reflejos (2019), she founded the Manon Mullener 5tet, with which she combines modern jazz with Afro-Cuban influences. The album Insomnia (2023) took the ensemble on an international tour, while the most recent work Stories (2025) attracted a great deal of attention for its energy and originality.
Established in 2007, the prize is awarded each year during the festival (June 25 - July 4, 2026). Recent winners include Bruno Spoerri, Franco Ambrosetti, Othella Dallas, Nolan Quinn, Christoph Grab, the Swiss Jazz Orchestra and Elina Duni.
