DDK performs improvised music that is radical, immediate, and entirely focused on the present moment. Between silence, the finest sonic traces, and eruptive acoustic gestures, the quartet creates a music shaped by intense listening and precise articulation – beyond fixed stylistic idioms. Together with the Japanese sound artist Sachiko M and her sine waves, they open up an unpredictable and expansive sonic space.
Founded in 2014 by Swiss pianist Jacques Demierre, the DDK Trio has established itself as one of the most distinctive ensembles in European improvised music. Bringing together Jacques Demierre (piano), Axel Dörner (trumpet), and Jonas Kocher (accordion), the trio has developed a musical language entirely devoted to the moment. Rooted in an acute awareness of the propagation of sound, their performances unfold as processes of continuous transformation, ranging from barely audible vibrations to dense, physically tangible sonic events. The trio’s music combines an extraordinary expressive range with an uncompromising focus on form, dynamics, and musical presence.
In this context, the collaboration with Sachiko M appears almost inevitable. For decades, the Japanese musician has been one of the defining figures of experimental electronic music. Through her characteristic sine-wave performances, she pursues a radically reduced approach in which listening itself becomes the subject of musical experience. From the simplest electronic signals, she creates spaces of remarkable depth, where sound, perception, and architecture intertwine in unexpected ways.
The encounter brings together two strikingly different sonic worlds: the trio’s warm, breathing, and gesture-driven acoustic sound, and Sachiko M’s precise, cool, almost laser-like sine waves. From this friction emerges an ambivalent sonic environment filled with tension and unexpected perspectives. Individual choices influence one another, sound becomes a shared field of exploration, and perceptions of time and space are fundamentally reconfigured. The result is a series of ephemeral sonic architectures whose course remains unpredictable and can emerge only through the unfolding of the moment itself.
The DDK Trio was founded in 2014 at the invitation of Festival Météo in Mulhouse, France. Since then, Jacques Demierre, Axel Dörner, and Jonas Kocher have developed a singular approach to improvised music inspired by concepts of “instant composition.” The trio has performed throughout Europe, Japan, Russia, and Canada. Among its most significant projects in recent years are collaborations with the Contrechamps ensemble in Geneva and at the Venice Music Biennale, as well as with the Canadian large ensemble GGRIL. Their album A Right to Silence was released on the Meenna label in 2023.
Sachiko M first gained international recognition as a member of the legendary Japanese group Ground Zero. Since the late 1990s, she has pursued a unique musical practice centred on sine waves and the sonic properties of electronic devices. Her radically reduced solo performances have made her one of the most influential figures in the experimental music scene. She has collaborated with Evan Parker, Eddie Prévost, Pat Thomas, Günter Müller, Otomo Yoshihide, Toshimaru Nakamura, and many others. Together with Otomo Yoshihide, she runs the label Amoebic and continues to be active in numerous international projects.
A Special Workshop for Free Improvisation with Axel Dörner is to be held at the exploratorium from 11–12 July, 2026.
19:00: soundwalk with Thomas Gerwin
