lija kramer

Lija Kramer is a Russian-Swiss composer, sound artist, pianist, and indie-pop singer currently based in Bern and Biel, Switzerland.

She was born in the Republic of Tatarstan. She began playing the piano at the age of five and went through formal Russian classical training (at a specialized music school and the Conservatory) as both a pianist and a sound engineer. She is a prize-winner at international piano competitions in Paris, Prague, Vienna (First Prize), and Kazan, and has performed in Warsaw, Cologne, Bern, Zurich, Biel, and Moscow.

In Kazan, she founded Lija Kramer’s Music Lab — an experimental music and recording studio that served as a creative hub for composers, performers, and producers. She later left it all behind to pursue a career in Switzerland as a sound artist.

Her music blends the European classical tradition with her Tatar heritage; her body of work includes the experimental pop album Little Cat, the piano triptych Paracosm, the single Awakening, piano improvisations, and sound art pieces such as Knock-Knock and Sorrow (for prepared piano).

She lectures on sound recording and the psychology of music at the HKB (Bern University of the Arts) and teaches piano, composition, and music production in both Russian and English.