Balz Trümpy was born in 1946 in Basel, Switzerland. At the Conservatory Basel he studied composition with Gerald Bennett, music theory with Jacques Wildberger and Robert Suter, and piano with Rolf Maeser and Paul Baumgartner. He received his diploma in piano and music theory. Subsequently he studied composition with Luciano Berio in Rome and served as his assistant from 1975–1978. He spent time on various occasions at IRCAM (Institute of Research and Coordination in Acoustics) in Paris.
From 1979–2011 Trümpy was lecturer for music theory and composition at the Music College Basel, and from 1982–1987 he served as acting director of the conservatory.
In 1977 Trümpy received the Kunstpreis of the Lions-Club in Basel. In August 2006 he won the composition competition of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra for his orchestral work Im Dialog mit Beethoven.
“Trümpy’s music has an air of insistence, it speaks. As a composer he feels a strong drive to communicate, says Trümpy of his music. His sounds communicate instantly, they invite entry into his expressive universe. It is richly and densely constructed, but also with precision.” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 23 August 2013.)