Maria Schwab studied at the Conservatoires in Neuchâtel and Zurich, then in San Francisco and Benares (India) where she became interested in the music of northern India.
She is a very versatile musician and for several years her music has mirrored her wish to place communication, interdisciplinarity and the relations binding sound to space at the centre of her work.
She plays her 5 and 8 string acoustic and electronic violas all over the world as she interprets, improvises and composes alongside numerous musicians, actors, dancers and visual artists.
She is the impetus behind creations, performances, installations, teaching projects and improvisation courses.
Among the collaborations and partnerships: Camerata Bern, Basel Sinfonietta, Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain, compositions for the theatre (Theâtre de la Comédie, Saint-Gervais, Geneva, Theater Gessnerallee Zurich and Stadttheater Luzern), performances and improvisations alongside Urs Blöchlinger, Jacques Siron, Christoph Baumann, Jacques Demierre, Butch Morris, Hans Koch, Doro Schürch, Tom Varner, Franziska Baumann, Quatuor 3+1 (strings +live-electronic), Swiss Improvisers,..., Performance à 3 temps for dancer, musician and live-painter.