Canton of St.Gallen honors three musicians
The St.Gallen Cultural Foundation has awarded Goran Kovačević and Willi Valotti each a recognition prize worth CHF 15,000. It honors the writer and musician Frédéric Zwicker with a sponsorship award worth CHF 10,000.
Accordionist Goran Kovačević was born in Schaffhausen in 1971. He studied at the Winterthur Conservatory and the State University of Music in Trossingen and has won prizes at various international competitions; in 2013 he was awarded a studio scholarship in Rome by the Canton of St.Gallen. He lives with his family in Engelburg near St.Gallen.
Willi Valotti is one of the innovators of Swiss folk music - from his very first band, the "Echo vom Hemberg", and the former "Kapelle Heirassa" to the "Alderbuebe", which he has helped shape for 52 years, to the "item Quartett" and "Willis Wyberkapelle". Valotti trained as an accordion teacher in Winterthur and studied harmony with Max Lang, double bass in Zurich and arrangement and composition in Schaffhausen.
The sponsorship award goes to the writer, journalist and musician Frédéric Zwicker, born in 1983, who attracted attention in 2016 with his debut novel "Hier können Sie im Kreis gehen!". Politically, he is the singer of the band Knuts Koffer, which wrote a song against the enforcement initiative, as well as a journalist who writes about sexism at the St.Gallen Openair and latent racism in the wrestling scene.
