With the award, which is endowed with CHF 10,000, Ambrosetti wants to honor personalities who have rendered outstanding services to jazz in Switzerland. They combine "different genres, generations and grooves and speak an open, curious language with playful musicality at the highest level". In addition, they carry Swiss jazz into the world with their extensive international network.

This year's winners are Känzig & Känzig. Anna Känzig reached number 6 in the Swiss charts with her album "Sound and Fury". Now the versatile singer has teamed up with her uncle: Heiri Känzig is one of the leading jazz bassists internationally - he has performed with the Vienna Art Orchestra, Charlie Mariano and Chico Freeman, among others. What Känzig and Känzig have in common is their open musical horizon. For their first joint project, they have chosen the Great American Songbook as their source of inspiration.

The prize will be presented in person by Franco Ambrosetti on July 30 at the Hotel Walther, Via Maistra 215, Pontresina.

Olivera Tičević, Montenegrin soprano, completed her Master's degree in Specialized Music Performance at the HKB with Christan Hilz. She has won numerous competitions. In 2010 and 2013 she was voted the most promising artist of the Baroque Austria Academy, followed by an international career with concerts in Vienna, Stockholm, Heidelberg and Tokyo.

French pianist Valentin Cotton completed his master's degree in interpretation at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in Michel Dalberto's class. He has won prizes at several international competitions, including first prize at the Concours de France and the Montrond International Competition, as well as the Schenk Prize from the foundation of the same name in Switzerland.

For the first time, however, the other four specializations of the Master's course were also taken into account in the judging process: Music Mediation, Research, New Music and Chamber Music. The music educator and clarinettist Laura Müller was able to assert herself within this reorientation of the competition with a transdisciplinary education project at the Creaviva Children's Museum at the Zentrum Paul Klee.

Every year, HKB students completing their Master's degree in Specialized Music Performance Classical Music perform at a soloist diploma concert. The Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn accompanied this year's concert in Biel under the direction of its chief conductor Kaspar Zehnder. Afterwards, the students with the best overall score in the demanding three-part Master's examination were once again awarded the Eduard Tschumi Prize, each worth CHF 5,000.

Who has ever heard a symphony by Fritz Brun (1878-1959)? You may still recognize his name, as he was chief conductor of the Bernische Musikgesellschaft (now the Bern Symphony Orchestra) for over 30 years. But few people know this: Brun was the most important Swiss symphonist of the early 20th century, although not the most important Swiss composer of his time. Others, such as Arthur Honegger, Frank Martin and Othmar Schoeck, carried more weight. But Fritz Brun was the only one to devote himself primarily and with eminent talent to symphonic music, comparable to Anton Bruckner, for example - even in his underestimated importance. It is to be hoped that this will soon come to an end. The publication of Fritz Brun's complete orchestral works in this recording could provide an impetus for him to finally receive the recognition he deserves. It is true that many Swiss symphony orchestras have performed works by Brun in recent decades, there have also been radio recordings, and some of his symphonies have been released on LP and CD. But it is not without irony that an outsider conductor has had to bring his work to the public's attention, and with two foreign orchestras to boot.

The conductor is Adriano, born Adriano Baumann in Fribourg in 1944. He realized this complete recording with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra in the period 2003-2015. After studying music at the Zurich Conservatory, Adriano worked as a film music composer, editor of Honegger's film music and prompter at the Zurich Opera House. At the suggestion of Ernest Ansermet and Joseph Keilberth, he finally turned to conducting and from then on devoted himself to the interpretation of little-known works under the stage name Adriano, including the film music of Arthur Honegger as well as orchestral works and operas by Ottorino Respighi. He also champions little-performed Swiss composers such as Hermann Suter, Albert Fäsy, Pierre Maurice and Emile Jaques-Dalcroze.
The idea of a complete recording of Fritz Brun's symphonic oeuvre was born in 2002, when Adriano approached Hans Brun, Fritz Brun's son, with a request for financial support for his project. He and subsequently the Brun heirs, now represented by the composer's grandson, Andreas Brun, provided significant support for the ambitious undertaking over the following years.

The result now available is something to be seen (and heard!): a complete recording of Brun's orchestral works comprising eleven CDs. Adriano has combined all of Brun's published works for the ten symphonies, including the Rhapsody for orchestra, the symphonic poem From the Book of Jobthe concertos for piano with orchestra and violoncello with orchestra. Plus the vocal cycles 3 Songs and chants for alto and piano by Othmar Schoeck (orchestrated by Fritz Brun) and Brun's 5 songs for alto and piano - arranged by Adriano for mezzo-soprano and string sextet.

This comprehensive appreciation is a unique achievement that allows us to get to know Brun's oeuvre as a whole. Like many of his composing contemporaries, Brun began in the footsteps of Beethoven, Schumann, Bruckner and Brahms; he developed his style independently in the area of gradually expanding tonality, without ever questioning it. He found his personal musical language as early as 1901 in the First Symphony and remained true to his style until the Tenth, which he composed at the age of 75.

Characteristic of Brun's style are the chamber music structures that loosen up the orchestral flow and give it character, the tangible shaping of large movements and the rich late Romantic harmony. This is particularly evident in the first movement of the Fifth, which Brun himself considered problematic. In movements 2 and 4, he creates virtuoso fugati with twelve-note themes in the free tonal space, as Bartók and Hindemith also did.

This publication is enriched by a recording of the Eighth, which Fritz Brun realized in 1946 as conductor with the Beromünster Studio Orchestra. And the Variations for string orchestra and piano on an original theme can be heard in a recording by the Collegium Musicum Zürich under the direction of Paul Sacher and with Adrian Aeschbacher from the same year.

The website https://lieder.giigaebank.ch brings around 350 song lyrics from "Ä altä Älpler" to "Zwüscha Bärgä" into the trouser bag - thanks to smartphones. According to the website, these are songs that are often sung at social gatherings in the Muota Valley and Illgau, but whose lyrics are not always remembered correctly. The aim is to preserve the tradition of open singing in the Muota Valley.

This online collection is based on two songbooks, one published in Muotathal in 1979 and the other in Illgau in 1988. The association points out that many of the authors of these songs are unknown and are therefore "in a gray area of copyright law". Individual entries could therefore be deleted on request.

A search function leads to specific song texts, but you can also use the alphabetical index for inspiration.

At the moment texts are available, perhaps audio files will be added at a later date.
 

© Giigäbank Association

Screenshot of the website lieder.giigaebank.ch

Dominik Ettlin - The lower jaw is a horseshoe-shaped bone. Its two ends form the temporomandibular joints with the base of the skull. The position and movements of the lower jaw are regulated by the activity of the masticatory muscles. Disorders in the temporomandibular joints or muscles usually manifest themselves with clicking or rubbing noises accompanying movement and/or pain, for example when chewing or yawning. Occasionally, the opening of the mouth is restricted (temporomandibular joint blockage). The symptoms typically fluctuate over time and depending on the position of the lower jaw.

The lower jaw is in a relaxed or physiological floating position when the upper and lower teeth do not touch when the lips are closed. Unphysiological movements or postures such as excessive gum chewing, frequent teeth clenching or night-time teeth grinding can promote overloading of the masticatory system. The lower jaw also adopts a persistently unphysiological position when playing certain wind instruments or singing. Popular expressions such as "doggedly approaching a task" or "gritting your teeth and getting through it" or "chewing on a problem" reveal the close link between chewing muscle tension and emotions. Accordingly, emotional stress can also lead to tension and discomfort in the masticatory apparatus.

Good quality scientific studies on the subject of temporomandibular joint complaints in musicians are few and far between. In a Dutch study, music students complained more frequently than medical students of complaints in the areas of hands, shoulders, neck and jaw. A survey of 210 students found a significantly higher risk of developing temporomandibular joint complaints in those who played wind instruments compared to musicians of other instruments. An even more detailed analysis of the distribution of complaints by instrument was provided by a survey of 408 professional musicians from two classical orchestras in Germany. Because making music with woodwind instruments (flute, bassoon, clarinet and oboe) requires a persistently unphysiological lower jaw posture, it is not surprising that functional disorders and pain in the temporomandibular joint were described more frequently in this group. What is surprising, however, is that similar complaints were experienced just as frequently by people who played stringed instruments.

Other risk factors such as night-time teeth grinding and persistent jaw clenching could at least partially explain this observation. This is because these risk factors frequently describe people under stress, which in turn is associated with increased chewing muscle tone and jaw and facial pain. Around half of 93 professional violinists in Portugal reported suffering from stage fright, with a clear correlation with jaw joint pain. Excessive singing is also thought to be a possible cause of TMJ, but reliable data is not available.

In summary, musicians complain of jaw complaints with variable frequency. According to currently known data, these cannot be clearly attributed to playing a particular type of instrument. However, the impairment is highest for singers and wind instrument players. Health-promoting training is now recommended at music training centers. Instruction on recognizing stress and tension during training is useful, as young musicians, for example, suffer more from stage fright than experienced musicians. It also makes sense to impart knowledge about tinnitus and other hearing disorders, which are frequently associated with jaw problems, at an early stage. Both preventively and therapeutically, the focus is on dealing with emotional stress, optimizing body awareness and learning relaxation techniques.

PD Dr. med., Dr. med. dent. Dominik Ettlin Interdisciplinary pain consultation

Center for Dentistry,

University of Zurich Plattenstrasse 11, 8032 Zurich

The references can be found in the online version of the article at:

>

I had great fun playing through his ten waltzes for two violins by the busy comedy violinist-conductor-entrepreneur Aleksey Igudesman. The Simple Waltz at the beginning is easy to play, but well formed. The other nine are ingenious inventions in various moods. They demand familiar playing and great dynamic and agogic flexibility. Humorous effects are created by built-in general pauses, hectic accompanying figures, scratchy notes or theatrically breathless turning pauses. The arrangements of Chopin, Brahms and Johann Strauss take their content to the extreme. The two voices alternate democratically with the lead; it is a pleasure for professionals and good amateurs ... and also for the listeners.

Aleksey Igudesman: Waltz & more for 2 violins, UE 33657, € 17.95, Universal Edition, Vienna

Who hasn't heard of it: Alexandre Guilmant's brilliant Morceau symphonique. This lusciously composed showpiece - it was written in 1902 for graduation from the Paris Conservatoire - has long been part of the core repertoire of trombone literature. It is wonderful that there is now a carefully prepared Urtext edition of it, which refers both to the autograph and to the first print or edition and thus, in my opinion, qualifies as indispensable "standard material". The quality of the printing as well as the consideration of the technical requirements of the solo and piano parts leave nothing to be desired.

A nice detail: this edition was supplemented by the previously unknown Morceau de lecture à vuea "sight-reading exercise" composed by Alexandre Guilmant as an encore, so to speak, for the same final examination. Incidentally, the composer of the compulsory and sight-reading piece sat at the piano in person in 1902 - a tradition that could certainly be revived at universities today.

Alexandre Guilmant: Morceau symphonique and Morceau de lecture for trombone and piano, edited by Dominik Rahmer, HN 1090, € 12.00, G. Henle, Munich

This first of eight planned volumes of César Franck's collected organ and harmonium music presents four early works and two fragments. For many organ players, these are certainly new discoveries, as the works are not included in the canon of the composer's twelve "great" organ works.

The Fantaisie (Pièce) in A major was published in 1990 by Joël-Marie Fauquet (Editions musicales du Marais) and in 2008 in an edition corrected for certain printing errors by Bernhard Haas (Butz-Verlag). Fantaisie en ut majeur (early stages of the later C major Fantasie from the Six Pièces) and a Pièce en mi bémol majeur was published in 1973 by Schola Cantorum in an edition by Norbert Dufourcq. The charming Andantino in G minor was published in an anthology during Franck's lifetime, later also as a single edition, but was not given an opus number by him. In this respect, therefore, only the fragmentary works that have survived and are unfortunately not "complete" enough for a performance - a piece in E flat major, of which only the last five and a half pages have survived, and the beginning of a Prière (without conclusion) - are real new discoveries. Nevertheless, these are highly interesting testimonies to the composer, whose biographical background (for example, his "career start" as a piano-playing child prodigy until a fundamental rift with his father) and compositional development from sophisticated salon musician to mystic are still too little recognized. It is clearly recognizable that Franck conceived these works for early Romantic instruments (Saint-Roch 1842, Saint-Eustache 1853) and visibly struggled to formulate his tonal intentions because they did not yet correspond to Cavaillé-Coll's later standard and the more or less schematic "registration scenarios" possible with it. The composer's tonal language also occasionally still seems somewhat clumsy and (for example, in the accompanying figures) strongly inspired by the piano, but here and there certain "typical" Franck phrases already shine through.

The editor's excellent foreword now makes these connections accessible to a German and English-speaking audience, as Joël-Marie Fauquet's benchmark biography (Fayard 1999) is only available in French. The exemplary musical text and the detailed critical report provide a wealth of details on the works, their genesis and realization, and document editorial decisions in the light of already known editions. It will therefore be interesting to see whether new insights into Franck's "canonical" works already available in original editions (French publishers, reprinted by Butz) and new critical editions (Wiener Urtext, Henle) can be gained from the subsequent volumes.

César Franck: Complete Organ and Harmonium Works, Volume I: Early Organ Works / Fragments, edited by Christiane Strucken-Paland, BA 9291, € 29.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel

Short pieces are practical. Be it to supplement or structure a concert program, be it for instructive work in the university sector or be it to look over the shoulders of the composers a little more closely as they work. Two collections with numerous, predominantly short pieces by György Kurtág and Heinz Holliger, which were written over a fairly long period of time, should therefore attract a great deal of attention.

Under the title Signs, Games and Messages (Signs, Games and Messages), collections for violin, violoncello and clarinet, for example, have already been published. Now György Kurtág's solo and chamber music works for oboe and cor anglais are available, which deserve a closer look. His writing moves in an interesting field of tension between very precisely notated and very freely intended. Detailed articulation indications, such as various slurs (hierarchically or alternatively conceived), contrast with an extensive renunciation of bar lines or overly precise tempo or rhythm indications. Some ossia passages offer the performer options. In Kurtág's music, the most precise characterization possible is always central: here, a wide variety of verbal indications help, such as più sonore, raddolcendo, con slancio, disperato, pochiss. più intenso or again and again rubato and parlando.

The most extensive and best-known work in the collection is In Nomine - all'ongheresea magnificent monody that exists in a slightly different form for numerous instruments. But some shorter pieces also deserve in-depth study, such as the Sappho fragment or the two-part Hommage à Elliott Carter. In the chamber music works, a clarinet instrument is often added (in no less than three cases it is the contrabass clarinet). As a very short duo, the fierce Versetto for cor anglais and bass clarinet, but also the infinitely slow and (except for a brief outburst) infinitely quiet Rozsnyai Ilona in memoriam for cor anglais and contrabass clarinet. The two duos for soprano and oboe and cor anglais are also extremely poetic, Lorand Gaspar: Désert and Angelus Silesius: The Ros'. All the works in this extraordinary and magnificent collection are dedicated to Heinz Holliger, who penned the other edition, which is reported on here.

His collection consists of ten duos for oboe and harp, which were originally composed for his own use. They are playful, sometimes very short works, birthday presents for Robert Suter, Elliott Carter or Peter-Lukas Graf, for example, some of which have now also been arranged for other melody instruments (flute, carinette, saxophone). Two longer and very demanding pieces stand out at first glance from the "Albumblätter-Miniaturen": firstly, the work that gives the edition its title Un bouquet de penséesdedicated to his esteemed teacher Émile Castagnaud on his 90th birthday, an expansive dialogic song from 1999 for oboe d'amore and harp; on the other hand Surrogò, all'ongheresededicated to György Kurtág in 2006, a buzzing and shimmering composition (these expressions can be found in the subtitle!) of a highly energetic character for cor anglais and harp, which dissolves into a tonal nothingness at the end.

In addition to this extremely worthwhile compilation, the previously published Mobile for oboe and harp. On the one hand, the new edition is indispensable, as significant changes have been made to both the harp and oboe parts. On the other hand, the work now loses a decisive characteristic feature: the twelve short parts were printed on one large page in the first edition and could be played in three different sequences. If now, with the new edition, an entire booklet (in which the three versions are printed one after the other) is played through and, in addition, the transitional fermatas have to be constantly leafed through, the quasi-improvisatory character of the performance, for which the title Mobile stands. The reviewer takes the liberty of recommending that the individual parts be slightly reduced in size and glued onto a large cardboard as in the first edition. With good placement, the two musicians could even play from a music box, which would allow for even more lively and spontaneous interactions.

György Kurtàg: Signs, Games and Messages, solos and chamber music works for oboe and cor anglais, Z. 15 074, ca. Fr. 52.00, Editio Musica Budapest 2018

Heinz Holliger: Un bouquet de pensées, 10 pieces for oboe (oboe d'amore, cor anglais) and harp (individual pieces also for flute/alto flute, clarinet, soprano/alto/tenor saxophone and harp), score and parts ED 9467, € 55.00, Schott, Mainz

id., Mobile, for oboe and harp, playing score ED 5384, € 28.00, Schott, Mainz

Brigitte Bachmann-Geiser's book is not a history of folk music, as the author herself states in the foreword, but a four-hundred-page collection of material. Why it still bears this title, however, remains a mystery.

The publication summarizes the life's work of Brigitte Bachmann-Geiser; this is both the strength and the weakness of the book. The variety of topics and the breadth of the collected material is impressive. Hardly anyone has spent so long and so intensively studying the various facets of Swiss folk music, resulting in a unique collection of material that makes this book a must-read for all specialists. From historical evidence to Alpine blessings, types of yodeling, folk songs, the alphorn, brass band music to children's instruments and calendar customs, a wide range of topics are covered. All chapters are accompanied by a wealth of illustrations. The collection is completed acoustically by two CDs with examples of the individual chapters and with melodies, rhythms and noise in calendar customs, making it a remarkable concept that is not only impressive in terms of text, but also visually and sonically.

However, the book has some weaknesses that cloud the positive overall impression. The selection and weighting of the material seems very random. For example, thirteen pages are devoted to cattle bells and cowbells, while the Swiss Yodelling Association is given just one page. Ländler music - after all, one of the central genres of Swiss folk music - is also dealt with on five and a half pages. This weighting would be tolerable if it were somehow justified. However, there is no indication as to why it has been chosen or what is meant by folk music here. The handling of the collected source material is also unsatisfactory. For example, it is claimed that the cow rows in the 18th and 19th centuries were written down without lyrics because the foreign researchers could not do anything with the Swiss dialect, but the fact that Jean-Jacques Rousseau explicitly attributed his example to the bagpipe is omitted. It is also a pity that there are numerous errors of detail. For example, a photo of Stocker Sepp in front of a Swissair plane is dated "around 1925", although Swissair was only founded in 1931, or it is claimed that Bligg's title Folk music had been in the hit parade for weeks, which cannot be confirmed on the basis of the Swiss hit parade lists.

What is most disappointing, however, is that most of the chapters are stuck in the 1970s and 1980s and have hardly been updated - and if they have, then with a few, carelessly researched sentences. This is particularly noticeable in the chapter on the "Renewal of folk music", which is limited to the 1960s to 1980s and barely mentions the last 25 years, during which Swiss folk music was extremely lively and changed considerably.

The book is therefore highly recommended as a collection of sources for critical specialists, but is less suitable as an overview for beginners.

Brigitte Bachmann-Geiser: History of Swiss folk music, 399 pp., 187 illustrations, 2 CDs, Fr. 64.00, Schwabe, Basel 2019, ISBN 978-3-7965-3853-7

Why another book about music and the brain? is the first question Eckart Altenmüller asks himself. It differs from others, he answers, because it also asks questions about where, how and why. He covers a wide range of topics, with insights into research into the prehistory of music-making, the question of whether animals also make music, emotion research and music therapy. He does all this in a pleasantly unpretentious, clear and well-founded style. The explanations in the continuous text are supplemented by musical examples that can be called up with the help of QR codes.

Altenmüller is a neurologist and, as a flautist, a student of Aurèle Nicolet, i.e. extremely talented both as a musician and as a scientist. He is rightly regarded worldwide as one of the most important representatives of neuromusicology. The fact that reading the book is a great pleasure is also due to the fact that he remains present as a person. He illustrates his theses and theories primarily from his personal experience as a flautist. He has also played numerous examples on his instrument himself. His roots in the Western European, educated middle-class medical tradition are also very noticeable. Inserts to break up the scientific explanations quote personalities such as Grimmelshausen, Proust, Ingeborg Bachmann, Ovid and so on.

The strongest passages in the book are the explanations of the physiological aspects of music-making. Altenmüller not only knows how to explain the latest findings on brain physiology and the sensory aspects of music-making. He also deals with practicing techniques and musicians' illnesses, especially the "musician's cramp", in an enlightening way. He is a little more on the slippery side when it comes to the more humanistic areas of emotional theories and music therapy. A great deal of space is devoted to the more physiological research on goosebumps in music. As Altenmüller himself admits, these are produced more reliably by rather banal things such as scratching on a blackboard. One can therefore wonder how great her knowledge potential for emotion research in music really is.

However, important current models of emotion research in music remain unmentioned or are only touched on in passing. For example, references to David Huron's ethological model or Klaus R. Scherer's component process model and Nico Frijda's emotion theories, which are the starting point for the most important newer models, are likely to be missed. Altenmüller also reflects on music therapy primarily as a physiologist. Some examples of current music therapy research seem unrepresentative or outdated.

Eckart Altenmüller: From Neandertal to the Philharmonie - Why humans cannot live without music, 511 p., € 24.99, Springer, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-8274-1681-0

"When music is not just culture or Technorama and the Museum of Transport are not just museums". The title of the Postulate 19.3725 by Rosmarie Quadranti points out the dilemma: there are tasks that are part of both education and culture. So far, such tasks - such as the implementation of the Article 67a BV - can only be solved by a federal office. The postulate asks the Federal Council to show "which measures can be used by the Federal Office of Culture and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation to solve tasks that are related to both culture and education."

As the Swiss Music Council writes in its press release today, the Motion 19.3807 "Value chain of the music sector by National Councillor Stefan Müller-Altermatt the Federal Council to take measures that would make it possible to collect statistical data on the economic performance of the entire music sector, "including amateurs, professionals, education, research and science as well as the music industry and the law."

The Swiss Music Council also supports the Motion 19.3322 by National Councillor Thomas Ammann on the tax exemption of compensation for volunteer work.
 

The Haute Ecole de Musique Vaud Valais Friborg (HEMU) is an educational institution recognized for its demanding and comprehensive training, as well as for its complicity with professional circles and its commitment to musical life. Multidisciplinary and multi-style, it covers all training profiles in classical, jazz and contemporary music. The HEMU is located in the heart of Europe and French-speaking Switzerland, and offers university-level education to more than 500 students of 39 different nationalities. Emphasizing both theory and practice, its Bachelor's and Master's study programs are established in such a way as to promote good access to the professional world. Its teaching staff, made up of many internationally renowned artists, guarantees its students high-level supervision. Historically present in the Lausanne Conservatory (before the Bologna reform), classical music has been taught at the HEMU for more than 150 years. Alongside it, the jazz and contemporary music departments, offered exclusively in French-speaking Switzerland, were created in 2006 and 2016 respectively. tradition, creation, research and development always with the aim of achieving, and helping to achieve, excellence. Each year, the HEMU produces more than 300 public performances: concerts, workshops, etc. The masterclasses given by prestigious musicians and the partnerships concluded with world-renowned institutions provide students with rewarding educational experiences and, above all, allow them to create a network. Its Bachelor and Master studies are accredited by the Swiss Confederation and recognized internationally. Since 2009, the HEMU has been part of the 'Music and Performing Arts' area of the Western Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (HES-SO), the largest network of higher professional training in Switzerland, which had nearly 21,000 students. at the start of the 2018-2019 school year.

Matthias von Orelli - Noémie L. Robidas, violonist and until now Director of the Living Spectacle Department of the Toulouse Institute of Fine Arts, is the new General Director of these two institutions. Québécoise, she is the beneficiary of a wealth of professional experience as a musician, teacher, researcher and director of the establishment.

Madame la Directeur, I am delighted that you have taken the time to talk to us. You took over the management a few months ago. What are your first impressions?

I am happy and delighted to be at the bar of such a great musician who welcomes musicians from a very young age until they receive their Master's degree. I have the impression of being able to contribute to an ecosystem of music. I found the professorial and administrative teams motivated and ready to work at the HEMU-CL. I also got to know the students, who are many and full of talent! This is a great source of inspiration for me!

You have known Switzerland for a long time. Has your perception of the country changed since you took up this new post?

Switzerland is a country where I've been living permanently for a dozen years and which I actually feel close to, probably because of my Swiss origins. However, from a professional point of view, I feel more at home in the Swiss countryside than in France, where I spent the last 7 years. I believe that this is due to the fact that the values of simplicity and accessibility to the hierarchy have been restored there, but this doesn't mean that the functions are disrespected. I also hope to see this collective search for consensus in Switzerland. However, the emphasis is different! (rires)

You are confronted with an institution that has gone through a period of crisis and tension, which has forced the former director to resign. Has this affected your work?

I would like to inform you that this does not affect my work at all. I'll help the team to hoist the big cloud after the break. Some people are still worried that the wind will blow again, but that's normal. What I sense is that the whole world wants to see what's ahead! This accompaniment to change is inherent in all new governance, it is a challenge that I am ready to tackle!

You are originally from Canada and have been working in France for a long time: what are the differences - or similarities?

I got to know the music scene in Switzerland through the network of conservatories and music schools, where I had the opportunity to continue my training for many years. I was also initiated into the new developments in music at the school after a 6-month replacement at the HEP-Bejune. As far as the musical scene itself is concerned, I would like to get to know it now. I think that musicians in Switzerland, like in Europe, have the chance to have the support of the state, many musical structures and a public that appreciates art and culture. In the North of America, musicians often have to carry out all their projects and initiatives independently. Entrepreneurial qualities are almost as important as talent for a musician's success.

You have a very international career. How do you perceive the Hautes Ecoles de Musique Suisse in an international comparison?

There are many establishments that offer high quality training programs which, according to me, are highly competitive internationally, which also explains our great attractiveness and the fact that our students come from all over the world!

The Swiss music schools are also facing some major challenges. What are the most important and urgent ones in your opinion?

I believe that the main challenge for the future of our schools lies in their ability to adapt to a constantly changing professional environment. Our higher education institutions must not only be attuned to the needs of their students, but also anticipate the context in which their graduates will be confronted in the next 10-15-20 years. Nowadays, it is no longer enough to be an excellent instrumentalist to succeed and live music. It is therefore necessary to provide our students with a wide range of skills to ensure their professional success. To this end, we must also question certain of our pedagogical habits and revise our study plans carefully.

Recently, a Swiss journal declared that many musicians often live for music, but not from music. In Switzerland, few people choose music as a profession. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that children in Switzerland are not specialized from a very young age, which is essential for music, but they are offered different options. On the other hand, many Swiss people are not only able to live "for" music, they want to live "from" music. Where do you see your school in this context?

This is a big question! I believe that the HEMU-CL has a role to play in boosting the Swiss music ecosystem in Switzerland by better supporting the talents of the region. Present in the cantons of Vaud, Valais and Fribourg, I believe more than ever that the HEMU-CL must act in synergy with conservatoires and music schools so that we can create a desire among young people to surpass themselves by providing them with models, by creating mentoring systems, by encouraging the teachers and directors of the various institutions to work even harder in the classroom. We need to find ideas of competition for ideas of complementarity.

Digitalization is an omnipresent topic. Where do you see the opportunities of this technology for your high school?

I would like to point out that we are a little behind schedule on this front. Whether it's digital learning environments, applications, the creation of digital learning communities or working in a recording studio, there are several opportunities to explore that are efficient and much more accessible than one might think. Furthermore, we will be inaugurating a large-scale studio in Flon this spring! However, we must ensure that all these technological innovations remain at the service of education and music.

You said that you want a constructive dialog within the institution and that innovation and creativity are just as important to you as excellence. What does this mean in terms of concrete implementation?

I believe that today we do not represent all the ecological and social issues of the future. In this sense, while excellence remains for me a fundamental value for the HEMU-CL, it seems to me primordial to create musicians who are more open to the issues of the world today and capable of contributing to the evolution of our society through their art. Concretely, we must teach them to diversify their practices in terms of aesthetics, we must provoke encounters with other forms of art, with contemporary creation, with diverse publics. The students must certainly learn to defend a musical heritage, an aesthetic and their instrument, but they must also develop an inventiveness that must always be renewed. This is one of our biggest challenges as a school!

Although I like several musical styles, my heart always comes back to an inexhaustible source of inspiration: Jean-Sébastien Bach... and, being a trained violinist, when I have a little free time (laughs), I dive back into happiness in the manuscript version of his Sonatas and partitas. His simple pen already lets the music be heard.