Diego Kohn

Short bio

I am a sound artist, performer, and educator based in Switzerland. My work centers on music as a relational and ethical practice, situated between artistic creation, pedagogy, and research. I teach improvisation at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and collaborate with academic and artistic institutions in diverse contexts.

Long bio

I am currently a lecturer in improvisation at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), where I work with students from diverse instrumental and artistic backgrounds. My training includes a Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK, 2017–2020), a Master of Arts in Specialized Musical Performance with a focus on improvisation from the Musikhochschule Basel (2015–2017), and a degree in musical arts with a focus on composition from the Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA, Argentina, 2006–2013). Alongside my teaching activity, I design and facilitate workshops, seminars, and laboratories focused on collective improvisation, expanded listening, and exploratory pedagogical models — at institutions including the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Tallinn), the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, the Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA, Argentina), and 17, Instituto de Estudios Críticos (Mexico).

My work is informed by practices of expanded listening, critical reflection, and alternative pedagogies, and engages with questions of relation, responsibility, hospitality, and social resonance through sound — reflected in projects such as Listening Across the Borders, and in long-term collaborations with artists, educators and institutions across diverse contexts.

In addition to my artistic and pedagogical activities, I am actively engaged in curatorial and network-based initiatives that create sustainable platforms for improvisation, experimentation and transdisciplinary exchange.