Hanspeter Kruesi is a trained professional pianist, guitarist and composer from Switzerland and has been working as a freelance artist since 1989. Since 2003 his compositions have been used in numerous national and international TV and film productions (SRF, ABC, BBC and many more).

Starting as Bar & Jazz Pianist

In the years 1989 to 1996 Hanspeter Kruesi was mainly professionally active as a jazz pianist & bar pianist. In Zurich he played mainly in the then well-known Zurich clubs, the Splendid Bar, the Widder Bar and the Casa Bar either as solo pianist or in various jazz formations or in other Swiss jazz clubs. As an artist accompanist for professional singers, he was very busy in the jazz scene at that time. He also played professionally as a pianist in various formations such as Big Bands, Jazz Quartets, Jazz Quintets or Top 40 or Blues & Boogie Woogie Bands. He played at various jazz festivals like the jazz festival Lichtensteig or the jazz festival Jona or other jazz festivals as a solo pianist as well as other formations. in 1996 he started studying at the conservatory, but unfortunately had to give up playing the piano after a few months due to a chronic tendinitis. since he played the guitar as a secondary instrument at that time, he spontaneously switched to the guitar from main instrument and interrupted his career as a pianist for several years. in 1999 he finished his music studies with a diploma as guitarist.

Years As Guitarist

In 1999 Hanspeter Krüsi started working on his former web portal Gitarrist.ch and started a career in the then emerging internet which quickly became very successful. Since then he is present as a guitarist worldwide on the subject of guitar, guitar music and guitar playing on the Internet. His music has already been played on various international radio stations, his videos and recordings have received very positive attention and mention in countless specialist portals. From 2006 - 2012 he was a featured Instructor on www.guitartricks.com, the top portal for guitar and guitar playing at that time and supervised more than 60000 students - in 2007 he was even an endorser and online instructor on gibson.com. His pioneering work in the field of online education has been recognized by the trade press several times and received very positive attention from the national association SMPV.

Currently Hanspeter Krüsi runs a YouTube guitar channel under the pseudonym " HPCrazy " with currently more than 80000 visitors per month and a constantly growing number of fans worldwide. On Spotify an acoustic flamenco composition will reach over 120000 listeners in 2016. 2017 a blues composition reaches over 1500000 listeners.

Playing Piano Again

In 2002, inspired by a concert by the then still unknown Brad Mehldau, Hanspeter Kruesi decided to launch the website Pianist.ch. Shortly after that the first professional engagements at small to medium sized events followed. In later years, engagements at large corporate identity events with 500 to 3,000 participants followed. In the years up to 2010 so much experience could be gained at big events.

In 2003 he began working as a composer for television and film. In the special broadcast for the 175th birthday of the Swiss Federal Railways SBB, a piano piece, Keys of Destiny, was used as the title melody of a 24-hour special broadcast of Swiss television. With this reference, many uses of his music on television followed. Highlights were the use of modern pieces with piano in Hollywood productions such as Ugly Betty, Dr House or other ABC productions.

Developement of the Farbmusik

Hanspeter Krüsi is a synaesthetically inclined musician, for whom tones sound passages represent improvisation concepts, chords represent colours. The year 2003 is 2007 maps of the exploration and specification of a concept of improvisation and the representation of colours through music. The term color music was defined. Music concerts are improvised classically inspired concerts, which should bring this concept to the audience. This concept is very unique in its kind.

The field of colour and music has not yet been thoroughly explored, but many concerts have shown that a large part of the audience recognizes the colours in the music pieces and the colour improvisations. A scientific claim to music and colour and the psychological context is not the aim of colour music concerts. The goal is a comprehensive musical enjoyment through all colours, which captivates the audience, even those who may not be able to perceive a connection between the music and the colour directly. Therefore the claim of the Colour Music Piano Concerts is that it is an individual interpretation of the colours in the music and not a scientifically proven concept.

Experience from concerts since 2005 shows that the audience appreciates this form of music very much and always likes to come back. If you want to classify this music into a genre, you would most likely use film music, semi classical or classical music. Comparable protagonists of the more precise are pianists like Keith Jarrett, Michel Petrucciani, Yiruma, Michael Niemann, Philip Glass, Brad Mehldau, many events and many more.

Personal words and outlook

I found it very difficult to write a resume because I don't like to look back and I don't like writing about myself.

This CV shows the most important stations, which are worth mentioning in my opinion, but there were times when there was a real hype and this text does not reflect that realistically. Personally, I was always only interested in the music and that's why I left out many offers and opportunities in the times of hype to serve the music. From my point of view the HPCrazy Guitar Academy is what I would have wished for as an aspiring musician and guitarist. That is the reason why I put so much time and energy into it.

Especially my own studies time I found very difficult. In my opinion, many of the curriculum contents were not necessary, led in the wrong direction or had the wrong value. I was someone who came from a practical background and wanted to see the reality in music and its expression. So for me the most important learning success of my studies was to recognize what I did not want and how to do it differently. So I spent the first years after my studies to forget everything that was taught at the university and to go my own way.

I recognized the Internet early on as THE medium of the future for music creators with a pioneering spirit. Especially in the years 1999 - 2005 there was a lot that was not yet part of everyday life and this was a very exciting time with many possibilities, visions and ideas that could be implemented. This was the main reason for me to turn away from the conventional music business in 2003 and to dedicate myself completely to the development of online education systems and online performance and promotion opportunities. I was always only interested in music - music in its perfection and beauty. Music as a form of personal expression and music as an art form far away from the notions of a deadlocked music industry. This is the centre of my work as a teacher and lecturer as well as a performing artist. That was the real reason for the artist name HPCrazy - some people said I was crazy to put everything on the map of internet and new concepts instead of going the usual way, which would have been possible. But my father had always taught me that you shouldn't listen to others when it comes to implementation, but to go your own way consistently and professionally to achieve real success.