Victor Burghardt

Victor Burghardt (* 27. January 1937 in Budapest ) is a Swiss clarinetist , saxophonist and composer of Hungarian origin, especially in the fields of modern jazz and popular music worked. As an orchestra director, he also recorded albums under the stage name Ric Bogart .

Live and act

Burghardt fled Hungary to Zurich in 1958 while he was a student . He studied clarinet at the Zurich Conservatory up to his diploma (1963); from 1965 to 1968 he studied composition at the Basel Music Academy . Between 1964 and 1985 he worked as principal clarinetist and lead saxophonist with the entertainment orchestra of Schweizer Radio DRS (then known as Beromünster entertainment orchestra , first in Basel, then from 1970 in Zurich). In addition to numerous radio and television recordings, he was also involved in numerous albums, also in collaboration with world-famous artists such as Henry Mancini , Sammy Davis junior , Gene Kelly , Joe Hendricks , Maynard Ferguson , Eddie Harris , as the leader of his own formations. Since then he has worked as an instrumental soloist, among others with Thomas Moeckel , but also as a conductor, arranger and composer. He also taught at various music colleges.

Honourings and prices

Burghardt's compositions have won several prizes and awards in competitions: in 1980 he received third and 1983 first prizes at the International Composition Competition of the Academie de Musique in Monaco, and in 1982 the composer's prize from Radio DRS and the Swiss Tonkünstlerverein. In 1986 he was awarded the Composer Prize of the European Broadcasting Union (UER) and in 1998 the Interlyra Award of the Foundation Hungarian Performance Art .

Lexical entry

• Bruno Spoerri (Hrsg.): Biographical Lexicon of Swiss Jazz CD supplement to: Spoerri, Bruno (Hrsg.): Jazz in Switzerland. History and stories . Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0739-6

Web links

• Entry in the Swiss Jazz Index