Cordula Bürgi was born and raised in Switzerland, and studied violin at the School of Music in Lucerne, and conducting and singing at the Basel Music Academy. From childhood onwards she played in various youth orchestras and chamber music groups, and early on discovered her enthusiasm for both early and new music.
In 2008 she took over the musical direction of the Basel Girls’ Choir. Following continuous work with diverse choral ensembles, she supervised numerous concerts and productions at Theater Basel. She has worked widely as a rehearsal director elsewhere, including for productions at the Berlin State Opera (Beat Furrer’s Violetter Schnee) and Graz Opera, and with the SWR Vocal Ensemble of Stuttgart.
In 2014 she moved to Vienna, where two years later she founded the ensemble Cantando Admont to perform both early and new music. Within a few years under Cordula Bürgi’s artistic directorship, this ensemble of excellent vocal soloists has established itself as a part of European musical life, and has performed at renowned festivals including the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals, the Eight Bridges in Cologne, the Munich Biennale, Klangspuren Schwaz, the Bern Music Festival, the Gustav Mahler Music Weeks in Toblach, the Wien Modern Festival and ZeitRäume Basel, and also at concert halls and opera houses such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens. Cantando Admont will play a key role in the world premiere of Beat Furrer’s first major choral opera, Das große Feuer, which is scheduled to take place in March 2025 at the Zurich Opera House.
As a conductor, Cordula Bürgi appears in concerts with Cantando Admont both in Austria and abroad, and also works with various European instrumental ensembles including the Kammerensemble Neue Musik (KNM) Berlin and the Ensemble PHACE in Vienna.
