AVOCLAP

Vocal Impro Festival

From Friday January 15, to Sunday January 17, 2027.

At Catalyse

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Let’s play body music !

Editorial by Noga

We hear a lot these days about recent discoveries in neuroscience, suggesting that one of the best ways to take care of our brains is to keep them stimulated. We are told that the brain thrives on novelty and challenge, and we are encouraged to learn, listen to music, engage in creative activities, read, write, play, sing, dance, and nurture social connections…

In this context, I am delighted to see that what my instinct was telling me years ago is now being confirmed: improvisation seems to have a particularly strong potential for engaging the brain and supporting neuroplasticity, as it brings together novelty, real-time decision-making, adaptation, embodied memory, perception and creativity.

A 2025 study focusing on a collective vocal improvisation session in which nearly 6,000 neuroscientists sang and created body percussion rhythms under the guidance of singer and improviser Davin Youngs describes the brain and physiological effects of this kind of improvisation: changes in prefrontal activity, the emergence of a flow state, neurotransmitter-related activity, rhythm, synchronisation and connection with others.

Quite a programme! And it is precisely this that AVOCLAP invites you to explore through play, experimentation and joy. Three days of vocal improvisation and body percussion, with workshops for different levels and exploring a variety of themes, offering an opportunity to refine both your artistic practice and your presence in the world.

Dare to embark on the adventure… it might just transform you!

We can’t wait to welcome you!

Description

AVOCLAP… A name that makes you wonder, chosen above all for the way it sounds. What does it mean? What is it supposed to mean? That’s for each of you to decide! Do you love singing, moving, playing and improvising? Would you like to explore vocal improvisation, body music and the joy of creating together? Then we’re waiting for you!

Do we think with the right brain? The left brain? We choose neither — we opt for balance. And did you know that one of the tools for finding that balance, that elusive balance, is precisely improvisation?

AVOCLAP 2027 is three days of celebration, dedicated to exploring and deepening vocal and physical improvisation. Three joyful, welcoming days with renowned artists and facilitators from diverse backgrounds, bringing together different languages, accents and cultures.

At the heart of it all is Circle Song. Together, with our bodies and our voices, and with all our differences, we will create an orchestra and let ourselves be carried away… Could this be a way of imagining a social model that embraces simplicity of means, collaboration and co-leadership? Isn’t that what we need — what the world needs?

AVOCLAP… At the very least, it has exactly the same number of letters as EVOLVING.

Artist speakers

Oskar Boldre (IT)

Mattias Wyss (CH)

Katrin Sauter (CH)

The programme

Friday, January 15, 2027

  • 5:30-8:30 pm: Oskar Boldre
  • 8:30-10:00 pm: Oskar Boldre & Noga : Circle Song / Evening Gathering

Saturday, January 16, 2027

  • 10:00 am-1:00 pm: Oskar Boldre
  • 2:30-5:30 pm: Oskar Boldre & Mattias Wyss (2 parallel workshops)
  • 7:30-9:00 pm: Jam Session

Sunday, January 17, 2027

  • 10:00 am-1:00 pm: Mattias Wyss & Katrin Sauter (2 parallel workshops)
  • 2:30-5:30 pm: Mattias Wyss & Katrin Sauter (2 parallel workshops)
  • 5:30-7:00 pm: Noga, Mattias Wyss & Katrin Sauter (Closing Circle Song)

Starting Thursday, January 14, sales will only be made on site.

Content of the workshops & Circles

Welcoming circle

Let us start the day with a collective circle song bringing together all performers & participants and with a presentation of all workshops.

Friday, January 15 to Sunday, January 17

Closing circle

Let us close the festival together with a circle song shared with all performers and participants.

Sunday: 5:30–7:00 pm

Workshops of Mattias Wyss

Body music - Song

With Mattias

In this workshop, we’ll sing a song combining voice, body percussion and movement in a playful and accessible way, with no previous experience required. We’ll also make room for improvisation and collective exploration.

Saturday, 2:30-5:30 pm

No previous experience is required or necessary.

Body Music - Grooves and Vocal Impro

With Mattias

In this workshop, we’ll start with body percussion. We’ll first learn a series of body rhythms and then combine them with singing. Through improvisation and gradually increasing complexity, we’ll explore the interplay between body percussion and voice — a true fireworks display for your brain!

Sunday, 10:00 am–1:00 pm — For those who feel more comfortable with their voice than with body percussion.
Sunday, 2:30–5:30 pm — For those who feel more comfortable with body percussion than with their voice.

It is also possible to attend both sessions of “Body Music – Grooves and Vocal Improv”.

No previous experience is required.

Workshops of Oskar Boldre

GIOCANDO LA VOCE - ABC IMPRO

An approach to improvisation accessible to everyone, with many vocal games between control and abandon. Just get involved, you have nothing to lose! the best way to prepare to improvise is not to prepare at all! we will practice exercises in the form of play, sacred and fun, developing flexibility and the art of contrasting and supporting others. The exercises are part of the method written by Oskar Boldre: Giocando la voce (Voglino Ed., 2021).

Thursday 14.05 14h30-17h30 – All Levels

TATT - OLFATT & TELL IMPRO – synesthetic stimolations (touch/smell/stories)

New tools for your singing increasing dynamism, training in change, emptying out, surprising oneself and developing different ways of offering a solo. We will practice with different exercises focusing on the art of contrast: the ABA defective Band, Rhythmic and Melodic Gifts, Substitutions, Moved Triangle, Sequence for new solos. We will use the synesthetic stimulations such as Olfattimpro, Tattimpro and Tellimpro with the intention of enriching your language, making the best use of vocal timbres as vehicles of emotions. Music exists to be discovered and not just to be repeated.

Friday 15.06 14h30-17h30 – All Levels

CIRCLESINGING – create space

The practice of circle singing is accessible to everyone and is beneficial, releases endorphins, and builds relationships. We’ll practice how to create space into a circlesong. It’s like opening the windows of a room so that new music can enter. Silence, breathing, and pauses harmonize with the music.

Saturday 16.05 10h00-13h00 – All Levels

Workshops of Katrin Sauter

Nerve-system based Murmuration practice - Voice and Movement Improvisation

With Katrin

In this workshop, Katrin Sauter will explore collective improvisation through practices rooted in the way our nervous system works. She will introduce you to Murmuration¹, as well as other forms of vocal and physical improvisation.

Murmuration is an improvised experience that explores the possibility of co-creating new ways of being together — becoming aware of our role as creators, taking turns leading and being led, and learning to remain fully present with one another.

This form of improvisation is inspired by the spectacular flocking behaviour of starlings, as they move together in fluid, ever-changing formations across the sky.

¹ A form of improvisation created by Rhiannon.

Sunday, 10:00 am-1:00 pm — For those who feel more comfortable with their voice than with body percussion.
Sunday, 2:30-5:30 pm — For those who feel more comfortable with body percussion than with their voice.

Price

1-Workshop Pass – CHF 65.-
3 hours of your choice of workshop
Welcome and Closing Circles

2-Workshop Pass – CHF 125.-
6 hours of your choice of workshops
Welcome and Closing Circles
INCLUDED: Friday, January 15 evening event

3-Workshop Pass – CHF 180.-
9 hours of your choice of workshops
Welcome and Closing Circles
INCLUDED: One evening event of your choice

4-Workshop Pass – CHF 230.-
12 hours of your choice of workshops
Welcome and Closing Circles
INCLUDED: All evening events

5-Workshop Pass – CHF 280.-
15 hours of your choice of workshops
Welcome and Closing Circles
INCLUDED: All evening events

Evening Events – CHF 10.- / evening

Evening events will take place on January 15 and 16, 2027.

If you would like to attend evening events that are not included in your pass, please add the corresponding tickets to your basket via our online ticketing platform:
Online ticketing

Passes are personal and non-transferable.

Meals

Lunch : at your own expense. Microwave available on site and many dining options in the area.
Refreshments, beverages and snacks for sale on site during the whole weekend.

< Back to the agenda

Reserve my spot

Formulaire d’inscription pour les scènes ouvertes

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Si vous souhaitez avoir un accompagnement musical, deux options sont possibles : vous vous accompagnez vous-même avec un instrument (pas de MP3 possible) ou notre accompagnateur vous accompagne (au choix, guitare ou voix).

Tonalité

En cas de désistement, merci de vous annoncer le plus rapidement possible.

Mattias Wyss

Mattias is a specialist teacher, lead teacher and school musician with a deep passion for body music and extensive experience performing with various body music ensembles, including Clapappella and RAMAJE. He also leads body percussion workshops. Together with his wife, Annie Kummer, he sings in the group Clapappella, and as a duo they lead body music and vocal improvisation workshops for couples and duos.

Mattias Wyss

Mattias est un enseignant spécialisé, professeur principal et musicien scolaire avec une grande passion pour la musique corporelle et une vaste expérience avec divers ensembles de musique corporelle (dont clapappella et RAMAJE) Il est également animateur d’ateliers de percussion corporelle. Il chante avec sa femme Annie Kummer dans le groupe « clapappella » et en duo avec laquelle ils animent des ateliers de musique corporelle et d’improvisation vocale pour les couples/duos.

Katrin Sauter

Katrin Sauter is a freelance Theater Artist, Cultural Mediator, Vocal Musician, NeuroGraphica Trainer and Coach since 2005. Improvisation and co-creation are at the heart of her artworks and workshops. She is teaching, facilitating, directing and performing with and for people of all ages.

Katrin Sauter studied theatre pedagogy at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and deepened her theatre and vocal improvisation skills with Christiane Loch & Silvano Mazzini, Sten Rudstrom, Rhiannon, Oskar Boldre, Roger Treece, Merel Martens and others. She grew up in the countryside in the Canton of Thurgau and lives in Zurich since many years.

Katrin Sauter

Katrin Sauter est artiste de théâtre indépendante, médiatrice culturelle, musicienne vocale, formatrice et coach NeuroGraphica depuis 2005. L’improvisation et la co-création sont au cœur de ses œuvres et de ses ateliers. Elle enseigne, anime, met en scène et se produit avec et pour des personnes de tous âges.
Katrin Sauter a étudié la pédagogie théâtrale à l’Université des arts de Zurich (ZHdK) et a approfondi ses compétences en théâtre et en improvisation vocale auprès de Christiane Loch & Silvano Mazzini, Sten Rudstrom, Rhiannon, Oskar Boldre, Roger Treece, Merel Martens et d’autres. Elle a grandi à la campagne dans le canton de Thurgovie et vit à Zurich depuis de nombreuses années.

The Editorial

Already the second edition of Avoclap, this festival whose name can be unpacked, to better savour its fragrances and flavours.
Vocal improvisation and body percussions: the voice, the body… These instruments, we carry them within us, each and every one of us.
Available always and everywhere – especially when we are connected to ourselves and to others!
An “unplugged” festival, naturally simple, close to the essential.
A festival in the garden of childhood, since we have played these instruments from the very beginning—of time and of our lives.
A festival to blossom, to learn, to create, to receive and to give… to evolve.
A festival celebrating the art of improvising together with the body and the naked voice.

What’s it like? Workshops during the day, with renowned facilitators coming from several regions of Europe.
Friendly meeting spaces, where words and exchange flow naturally, when one has just been carried by the voices of the group, entering together into the flow, here and now, play and joy.
And when evening comes, as a spectator ready to open up once again, still tingling with the emotions of the day, we vibrate with the scheduled performance.

The atmosphere? Full of simplicity, easy-going, kind and generous.
Whatever your level, you come as you are, you find what you’re looking for – even what you never suspected you were seeking – and you leave having moved forward on your path.

The hope? To contribute to growing the community of beings who are sensitive to the power of co-improvisation and circle song, like a nurturing breath toward a more harmonious world.

We’re waiting for you!

Charles Raszl

Charles Raszl est guitariste, chef d’orchestre, interprète, arrangeur, compositeur, éducateur artistique et directeur musical et théâtral. Il est diplômé de l’Université fédérale de São Carlos en éducation musicale.

Après avoir terminé ses études au Conservatoire classique de guitare, il rejoint le groupe vocal de l’Université de São Paulo, où il rencontre Fernando Barba, fondateur de Barbatuques, un groupe de référence pour les percussions corporelles au Brésil, dont Charles est toujours membre aujourd’hui.

Il se produit en Europe, en Asie, en Amérique du Nord, en Amérique du Sud et au Brésil dans le cadre de divers festivals de musique corporelle (tels que l’IBMF-International Body Music Festival, le PDF / France / Paris, le MC Uruguay, le RMW Finlande et le Festival et Body Rhythm Festival de Hambourg), où il enseigne le fruit de ses recherches sur les techniques traditionnelles brésiliennes de musique corporelle et de danse. Il est directeur artistique du Collettivo Rosario en Italie depuis 2019 et également du festival de musique corporelle et de danse CorpInFesta.

Gaël Aubrit

Gaël a découvert Bobby McFerrin en 2010, suite à quoi l’improvisation a cappella s’est installée au centre de sa vie et n’a plus cessé de le passionner. En 2012 il a co-fondé le projet Chant Pour Tous, inspirant la naissance d’une centaine de cercles réguliers de chant improvisé gratuits et ouverts à tous en Europe. Cette vision d’une pratique simple, accessible et populaire a toujours cohabité avec le désir de développer et affiner la dimension artistique des circlesongs et de la co-improvisation. Il a ainsi collecté et modelé des outils d’apprentissage à l’intention de personnes prêtes à s’investir pour aller plus loin musicalement. Il a dirigé un cursus de formation en co-improvisation sur trois ans, formé des chanteurs de tous niveaux, ainsi que des professeurs ou facilitateurs d’impro vocale, des musiciens intervenants en milieu scolaire et autres professionnels de la musique. En 2019 il a rejoint les intervenants du stage annuel de Circlesongs de Bobby McFerrin aux Etats-Unis. Il est en lien avec de nombreux collègues et structures en France et à l’étranger dans le but de contribuer autant que possible au développement communautaire, pédagogique, artistique et populaire de ces merveilleuses pratiques.

Mattias Wyss & Annie Kummer

Mattias est un enseignant spécialisé, professeur principal et musicien scolaire avec une grande passion pour la musique corporelle et une vaste expérience avec divers ensembles de musique corporelle (dont clapappella et RAMAJE) Il est également animateur d’ateliers de percussion corporelle. Il chante avec sa femme Annie Kummer dans le groupe « clapappella » et en duo avec laquelle ils animent des ateliers de musique corporelle et d’improvisation vocale pour les couples/duos.

Annie a une expérience variée dans l’enseignement que ce soit dans l’improvisation (théâtre, musique, danse), la modération (festivals, événements, congrès) et le chant (chœur, groupe, ensemble). Elle est maître de conférences à l’université, développeur organisationnel et leader en théâtre centré sur les thèmes. Elle chante avec son mari Mattias Wyss dans « clapappella » et en duo avec lequel elle organise des ateliers de musique corporelle et d’improvisation vocale pour les couples/duos.

Oskar Boldre

Autodidacte, chanteur, multi-instrumentiste, chef de chœur, compositeur et enseignant, il a rencontré McFerrin pour la première fois en 1992. Depuis 1996, il dirige régulièrement des groupes de Circlesongs et d’improvisation en Suisse et en Italie. En 1997, il a fondé les chœurs Ancore d’Aria et Goccia di Voci. En 2014, il a fondé l’école d’improvisation vocale et gestuelle et a rédigé la méthode GLV – Giocando La Voce ; il est actif en tant que soliste et avec le quatuor Vocalia.

L'édito

Déjà la seconde édition d’Avoclap, ce festival dont le nom se décortique, pour en mieux goûter les parfums et les saveurs. Improvisation vocale et body percussions : la voix, le corps… Ces instruments, nous les avons en nous, chacun.e de nous. Disponibles toujours et partout – surtout lorsque l’on est connecté à soi et aux autres ! Festival « unplugged », naturellement sobre, proche de l’essentiel. Festival au jardin de l’enfance, puisque nous avons joué de ces instruments dès l’origine, des temps et de notre vie. Festival pour s’épanouir, pour apprendre, pour créer, pour recevoir et donner… pour évoluer. Festival célébrant l’art d’improviser ensemble avec le corps et à voix nue.

Cela se passe comment ? Des ateliers en journée, avec des intervenants reconnus venant de plusieurs régions d’Europe. Des espaces de rencontre conviviaux, où la parole et l’échange coulent de source, quand on vient de se laisser porter par les voix du groupe, d’entrer ensemble dans le flow, ici et maintenant, jeux et joie. Et quand vient le soir, spectateur prêt à s’ouvrir encore, tout frémissant des émotions de la journée, on vibre face à la performance programmée.

L’ambiance ?  Toute en simplicité, bon enfant, bienveillante et généreuse. Quel que soit son niveau, on vient avec ce que l’on est, on trouve ce que l’on cherche – ce que l’on était loin de soupçonner chercher même, et l’on repart en ayant avancé sur le chemin.

L’espoir ? Contribuer à développer la communauté des êtres sensibles au pouvoir de la co-improvisation et du circle song, comme un souffle bienfaisant vers un monde plus en harmonie.

On vous attend !

Sonja Morgenegg

Sonja Morgenegg studied jazz singing at the St. Gallen Jazz School. This was followed by various further training courses in the USA (Co-Pilot Rhiannon) and Germany in the areas of breathing, body, voice, improvisation and theater. She has been working as a freelance voice coach, yodeler and singer since 2008. Free yodeling has accompanied the singer since her childhood and has gained a new, freer level for the artist through vocal improvisation. She has been intensively involved with Swiss natural yodeling since 2016. Sonja Morgenegg regularly travels with bestselling author Daniela Schwegler (Traumalp, Hüttenwartinnen, Landluft, Uferlos, Grünkraft) as a solo artist and improvisational yodeller. The artist celebrates free improvisation with the formation Triado.ch. With « Sooon », she combines all her skills in improvisation, yodeling, world music and composition www.sooon.li. In 2023, the artist released another solo album « Wildjodel », which contains 18 wildly composed yodels that form the basis of her wild yodeling courses.

Oskar Boldre

Autodidact, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist choirs director, composer and teacher, first met McFerrin in 1992. He has been conducting Circlesongs and improvisation groups regularly in Switzerland and Italy since 1996. In 1997 he founded the choirs Ancore d’Aria and Goccia di Voci. In 2014 he founded the school of vocal and movement improvisation and wrote the GLV method – Giocando La Voce; active as a soloist and with the Vocalia quartet.

Mattias Wyss & Annie Kummer

Mattias is a special needs teacher, head teacher and school musician with a great passion for body music and diverse experience with various body music ensembles (e.g. clapappella and RAMAJE) and as a body percussion workshop leader. He sings together with his wife Annie Kummer in «clapappella» and as a duo and organises workshops on body music and vocal improvisation for couples/duos.

Annie has diverse (teaching) experience in improvisation (theatre, music, dance), moderation (festivals, events, congresses) and singing (choir, band, ensemble). She is a university lecturer, organisational developer and leader in theme-centred theatre. She sings with her husband Mattias Wyss in «clapappella» and as a duo, and organises workshops on body music and vocal improv for couples/duos.

Gaël Aubrit

Gaël fell in love with vocal improvisation and circlesongs through meeting Bobby Mcferrin in 2010. He dedicates most of his life to spreading and refining this particular art form. Initially passionate about songwriting and musical composition, he graduated from the ENM Villeurbanne with a State certificate in musical studies (DEM) in singing. He then became a certified teacher of Allan Wright’s « Le Chanteur Moderne », a science-based vocal technique approach that he taught in private lessons and in various music schools in his hometown Lyon, France, specializing in voice therapy for singers. In 2012 he co-founded « chant pour tous »: vocal improvisation events that are free and open to everyone, with the intention of spreading vocal improvisation to a larger audience. 12 years later, more than 50 chant pour tous circles are happening every month all over France, Belgium, Switzerland, Réunion, Italy and other countries. Gaël’s philosophy tends to bring together a simple, accessible and popular way to practice music with the desire to develop and refine the artistic dimension of circlesongs and co-improvisation. He has thus collected and modelled learning tools for people who wanted to broaden their musical skills. He has directed a three-year training course for co-improvisation; he trained singers of all levels as well as teachers and improv singing facilitators, and other music professionals. From 2019, he joined the teachers’ team in Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs workshop in the USA. He has been building connections with a lot of fellow singers and music and cultural organisations in France and abroad in order to develop as much as possible the community of improvised singing alongside the wonderful educational, artistic and popular experience it offers.

Charles Raszl

Charles Raszl is guitarist, conductor, performer, arranger, composer, art educator and musical and theatrical director. He graduated from the Federal University of São Carlos in Music Education.

After completing the Classical Conservatory of Guitar, he joins the vocal group of the University of Sao Paulo, where he meets Fernando Barba, founder of Barbatuques, a reference group for body percussion in Brazil of which Charles is still a member today.

He moves to Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Brazil through various Body Music festivals (such as the IBMF-International Body Music Festival, PDF / France / Paris, MC Uruguay, RMW Finland and Festival and Body Rhythm Festival of Hamburg) bringing his teaching , the result of research into traditional Brazilian body music and dance techniques. He has been artistic director of Collettivo Rosario in Italy since 2019 and also of the CorpInFesta Body Music and Dance Festival.

Ateliers hors les murs - Contact

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Avec nos cours de chant et de théâtre adaptés aux différentes envies et tranches d’âge, vous pourrez faire découvrir une activité ludique et vocale à l’un de vos proches. Notre équipe est à votre écoute pour vous conseiller.

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Chèques créatifs

Catalyse attribue des bourses pour aider certains élèves à financer leur parcours musical. L’attribution se fait selon des critères sociaux et financiers. Les demandes de bourses sont obligatoirement formulées par l’intermédiaire du formulaire d’inscription au cours, puis d’un dossier à compléter.

Nos chèques créatifs sont financés grâce à la générosité d’une fondation privée désirant rester anonyme.

Option musique au collège

Les élèves qui suivent l’option musique parmi les disciplines communes en 1ère et 2ème année de collège peuvent obtenir une prise en charge des cours suivis à Catalyse à concurrence d’environ CHF 1’400.- / an (se renseigner auprès de l’administration du collège concerné).

Calendrier 2025/26

Rentrée – Lundi 01 septembre 2025
Jeûne genevois – Jeudi 11 septembre 2025
Vacances d’automne – Du lundi 20 octobre au dimanche 26 octobre 2025
Vacances de Noël – Du lundi 22 décembre 2025 au dimanche 4 janvier 2026
Vacances de Février – Du lundi 23 février au dimanche 1 mars 2026
Vacances de Pâques – Du vendredi 3 avril au dimanche 19 avril 2026
Ascension – Jeudi 14 mai 2026
Pentecôte – Lundi 25 mai 2026
Derniers cours – Semaine du 22 juin 2026
Vacances d’été – À partir du lundi 29 juin 2026