Biography

Manon Mullener is a jazz pianist born in 1997 in Fribourg, Switzerland. Coming from a family of musicians with a father and a brother who are drummers, she started playing the piano at the age of 4 at the Conservatoire de Fribourg. At the age of 17, her love for jazz, and more particularly for Latin music, took her to Cuba where she was able to deepen her knowledge in this field. Back in Switzerland, she received the Prix de la Spirale in Fribourg. After studying in Fribourg with Richard Pizzorno and Thomas Florin, Manon continued her studies at the Bern University of Music where she was a student of Colin Vallon.

In 2019, Manon records her first album ”Reflejos” in collaboration with Peruvian pianist Cesar Correa and Zurich percussionist David Stauffacher. They share the stage for numerous concerts in Switzerland and abroad. The album is very well received by the critics. Manon and César decide to release various singles for 2022, mainly for dancers, recording additional musicians, including Juan Munguia, famous trumpet player of the Cuban group Irakere.

Despite her young age, Manon has performed and toured in many clubs and festivals in Switzerland and abroad, including France, Germany, Spain and even Mexico and Cuba.

In 2022, she was one of the 6 winners of the international SOFIA competition based in Zürich. She was also finalist of the 7Virtual Jazz Competition based in Italy with her 5tet.

She released in March 2023 Insomnia, the first album of her new project Manon Mullener 5tet. A tour of about thirty dates across Europe follows. The album had a great impact in the press and Le Temps qualified her as “one of the new names of the Swiss jazz scene to follow closely”.

A versatile pianist, she is at ease in many musical styles, which has led her to be active in a wide variety of projects such as Jazzin’ Orchestra, Knobil 4tet and Nicole Johänntgen’s Robin, among others.

© Marius Mattioni