The guitarist Valentin Baumgartner died in an accident. The musician left numerous traces in the Central Swiss scene. He was only 30 years old.
Valentin Baumgartner, who studied jazz at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and graduated with a Master's degree in performance in 2015, stood out early on as an extremely talented guitarist and a lively spirit. Musically, he was extraordinarily open to numerous styles, from swing to the music of travellers to chanson and ethno, from hardcore punk to noise and reggae/dub to free improvisation and new interpretations of Schubert songs.
Baumgartner studied the music of the Travellers and took lessons with the Gypsy jazz guitarist Fapy Lafertin. He was one of the few young instrumentalists who could play this swing jazz and incorporate it into their music. He played with Vadane, Tiece, Gaston Duo, Kadeemka, Les Singes, In Love Your Mother, The Sheiks, Johnny & The Rocketboy and Extrafish, among others.
The young musician slipped on a snow field on 16 July 2021 while hiking on the Panixer Pass in the canton of Glarus and suffered a fatal accident. The 30-year-old was accompanied by another person on the descent from the Panixerpass in the direction of Elm. Above the Walenboden, he passed a snow field and started to slide. As a result, he fell about 20 metres and suffered fatal injuries.
Valentin Baumgartner is the son of Heinrich (Heiri) Baumgartner, another well-known jazz musician and music teacher. Valentin's grandfather, Johannes Baumgartner (1920-2003), who came from Engi, was a municipal administrator in Engi and a criminal court judge and chief justice in Glarus.