The Swiss conductor Nicolas Fink, born in 1978, has been a guest conductor of the WDR Rundfunkchor since 2011. He also works regularly with other ARD radio choirs and the Choeur de Radio France. He was assistant conductor at the Berlin Radio Choir from 2010 to 2015. He is also choir director at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

In addition, Simon Halsey was recruited for the WDR Rundfunkchor as creative director for choral music and extraordinary projects. This is a newly created position. The choral conductor, who was born in Great Britain in 1958, was chief conductor of the Berlin Radio Choir from 2001 to 2015, and the first close collaboration between Simon Hasley and Nicolas Fink dates back to this time.

Halsey introduces himself to the audience at a sing-along concert on December 12. Nicolas Fink begins his concert season with the WDR Rundfunkchor in September 2020.

The 711 students will begin their studies at the ZHdK on Monday, September 16. In addition to the music students, there are 110 enrolled in design, 91 in art and media, 112 in art education and transdisciplinarity and 90 in performing arts and film.

A total of 2,245 people are studying at Zurich University of the Arts. Of these, 1,300 are studying one of the eight Bachelor's degree courses and 945 one of the eleven Master's degree courses. The number of students has remained constant compared to recent years. A numerus clausus applies at the ZHdK; prospective students undergo a strict admission procedure beforehand.

The Beethovenfest writes: "On September 13, the 200th birthday of Clara Schumann, the orchestral piece Mouvement fantastique by Bettina Skrzypczak premiered. It was commissioned by the Beethoven Festival and will be performed by the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra Chemnitz under the direction of Gerrit Prießnitz. (...) In her homage to Clara Schumann, Bettina Skrzypczak refrains from motivic allusions or stylistic quotations. Instead, she cautiously approaches Clara's poetic world, which was also Robert's world, with her own compositional means. What fascinates her are the mysterious ciphers and the signals and reactions that can only be perceived in the medium of sound, in which the affinity between Clara and Robert Schumann was articulated. The piano, which the two used as a medium for their messages, plays a special role in the new work. However, it is not used in a concertante manner, but is part of the orchestra."

At the same time, the city and canton have regulated the responsibility and financing of upcoming cultural investment projects within the framework of the special-purpose association. In future, investment contributions to institutions will continue to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. In concrete terms, this means that for the upcoming major cultural projects at the theater and the Museum of Transport, the city will take the lead for the Lucerne Theater and the canton for the Museum of Transport.

The canton will invest around CHF 25 million in the Museum of Transport investment project, while the city will spend an as yet unspecified amount in the high double-digit millions on the Lucerne Theater. The reorganization of the operating contributions will result in an overall financial burden of around 50 percent for the city and around 50 percent for the canton. The new cost-sharing system will be introduced in three stages from 2023.

What is a good conductor? Dancer, teacher, therapist, whipper-in, rapper or diva? The drug of making music together is addictive, said the organizers at the final of the 9th Swiss Conducting Competition. The chance of getting into the flow is much greater if the conductor is enthusiastic, charismatic and takes everyone into his world. This promotion of talent is the task of the tried-and-tested event, which took place this week in Baden.

All decisions of the three-member jury were unanimous: The winner of the ninth Swiss Conducting Competition (September 4 to 9, 2019) is Théo Schmitt from Palézieux. The 28-year-old from Vaud impressed the jury with his interpretation of the top-class work "Praise Jerusalem" by Alfred Reed. Raphael Honegger from Aargau came second and Laurent Zufferey from Valais came third.
 

The prizes are only awarded if the high standards set by the jury (Jan de Haan, Philippe Bach and Carlo Balmelli) are met. This was the case this time, as the overall standard of the 23 participants was exceptionally high. The jury chose Schmitt because he was clearly the best over the whole week, as jury president Jan de Haan explained. The Vaud native rehearsed very well and had an excellent grasp of the score. Despite the pressure of the competition, he performed confidently and convincingly. Thanks to his good charisma and good contact with the orchestras, Schmitt is a convincing winner according to jury president Jan de Haan.

Winner Théo Schmitt struggled to grasp what the victory meant for his career immediately after the announcement. As he will be starting a two-year course in film music in Los Angeles next week, there is a lot going on at the moment anyway. This may have taken the pressure off him. Instead, he was able to enjoy rehearsals and concerts more and more each day. The only thing the Frenchman had worried about beforehand was the language barrier. In the end, however, his lack of German was more of an advantage, as he was able to approach the orchestra in a very personable way and express himself with the means of a conductor rather than with lots of words.
 

The same effect then applied to the final: Schmitt was awarded Praise Jerusalem was given the exact piece that he absolutely did not want. He then worked through the whole night between the semi-final and final and in the morning was ultimately very convinced by this composition. That's why Théo Schmitt says: "Winning is not the most important thing in the conducting competition." The focus is on the learning process for and during the event - with this in mind, he is now also looking forward to the upcoming detailed critique by the jury.

The conducting competition enjoys an excellent reputation in the wind music scene. It is a unique platform to compete, face a jury and make music with great orchestras. Former winners are still successful conductors today and enjoy an excellent reputation. This type of promotion of young talent is also extremely interesting for the public. It is rare to be able to compare so directly how conductors behave, what gestures and looks they use to direct the orchestra, whether they manage to create tension, whether their handling of the conductor's baton is appropriate to the work and whether the candidate gives the musicians space to make music.
 

23 candidates had originally registered for the 9th Swiss Conducting Competition and had to master a challenging program in a total of four rounds. The twelve people admitted to the Swiss Conducting Competition by the Music Commission had been rehearsing a piece unknown to the orchestra for half an hour with the Baden Wettingen Wind Orchestra since the middle of the week in the preliminary round. In the semi-final on Friday, the candidates were given five minutes to rehearse a composition already known to the Brass Band Emmental or to play strategic passages. The work was then performed. In the final, the three finalists each spent 45 minutes rehearsing a composition known to the Bern Symphony Brass Orchestra (Sibo), which was then performed at the gala concert.

The competition is also a challenge for the orchestras because the candidates interpret the individual passages differently. There are various strategies for preparing a work. For the conductors, the question arises - in addition to the high technical challenges - of how to gain the orchestra's attention. A brief nod for a cue, a smile after a successful solo or a joke before the start show whether a candidate is on top of things.

The ninth edition of the conducting competition was a complete success. For the first time (with the exception of the candidate selection), all competition rounds were open to the public. Everything went smoothly, as the jury, audience and candidates unanimously confirmed. We can only hope that the financial situation of the Swiss Conducting Competition Association will allow it to organize such a platform for young conductors again in three years' time.

A proposal from the National Council's Legal Affairs Committee (RK-N) wants to abolish copyright royalties for TV and radio offerings in hotels, vacation homes, hospitals and prisons. If international law is complied with, the foreign amounts would still have to be paid, only Swiss productions would be worse off.

The remuneration costs hotels less than one franc per room per month, write Swiss music professionals in an open letter to parliament. This is "a miserable joke and an insult to music professionals in Switzerland".

The revision of the CopA was initiated in 2012. According to their own assessment, the music creators "backed a compromise for the revision with major concessions", which contained very little of their original demands. The RK-N's proposal unbalances this compromise and turns the revision against them. The Council of States had understood this and deleted the tourism demand; the RK-N had now reinserted it.

The OSEW kicked off on Friday evening with the Swiss Students Competition, a percussion competition for students from Swiss music universities. On Saturday and Sunday, the soloists and ensembles put their musical skills to the test.

The OSEW Swiss Student Competition for university graduates took place for the third time this year. The concept was revised in collaboration with the Swiss universities. Students enrolled at Swiss music universities up to the age of 24 are eligible to take part. The jury was made up of internationally renowned experts Franz Bach, Stuttgart and Roman Brogli, Pugema TI. The competition took place in three parts (1st round: timpani/mallet; 2nd round: set-up/body percussion/music theater; 3rd round: marimba with three finalists). Cédric Gyger from Schönenried, a graduate of the Zurich University of the Arts, took first place with the pieces For Marimba II and Indifférence through. He relegated Farida Hamdar from Rehetobel and Corentin Barro from Mühleturnen to the places of honor.

The OSEW competitions took place in the Dreitannensaal and in the Grünau school complex. The highlight was the grand final for the Eastern Switzerland Solo Champion on Sunday afternoon. In view of the many outstanding performances, the internationally recognized jury had a difficult task to master. Children and young people born between 1998 and 2012 competed in the slow melody, ensemble and solo competitions, with around 800 young musicians taking part, from clarinets, trumpets and trombones to a wide variety of percussion instruments.

The five category winners of the weekend qualified for the grand final on Sunday afternoon. Katharina Mätzler (Bregenzerwald Music School) came out on top on her bassoon with her outstanding, virtuoso performance. She was able to convince the jury the most and took the coveted title of "Eastern Switzerland Solo Champion" abroad for the first time. Sven Dahinden, snare drums from the Schüpfheim music school, came second with his performance. Linus Tschopp from the Sulgen Music Society took third place on the euphonium. He was also nominated to take part in the "Prix Musique 2020".

Next year, the competition will take place for the 20th time from September 4 to 6, 2020. The association will certainly come up with something special for the anniversary, promised long-time OSEW Managing Director Verena Fehr, and also revealed that a belated present will then take place in Sirnach in 2021 with the final of the "Prix Musique".

The most striking feature of the new Ping-Pong Guitar School by Andreas Knoblich and Philippe Loli are the many notes in whose heads the note names are drawn in an irregular distribution. When working on a piece, the teacher should only play the normal, unprepared notes, the pupil only the labeled ones and vice versa - as in ping-pong (the school is also illustrated with two little figures of this name). This enables the pupil to memorize the note names quickly and confidently, and the constantly forced attention - when will it be my turn? - will also quickly become rhythmically proficient.

Based on the chord names, for which it is quite common that the German H through the English B is replaced, the single tone h always as b but, unlike in the English-speaking world, in lower case - except for the note heads, which are in turn in capital letters. A number of editorial carelessnesses spoil what is in itself an interesting didactic concept. For example, the first 22 tracks on the play-along audio app are recorded too low. Preparatory explanations and patterns for the right hand only appear after the corresponding pieces, and the last five somewhat longer numbers are consistently arranged in such a way that you have to scroll through them.

Robert Morandell takes a different approach with his spiral-bound course Guitar tiger. The guitar is sung to right from the start. Notation is not introduced in the first lesson, but gradually; tablature is used for rhythm patterns and finger exercises for the left hand - called "challenges". In solo pieces, abbreviated chord progressions alternate with written-out melody bars. The figure of the tiger, which does not mutate into a cow or bear, but at least into "Mu(h)tiger", "Bärtiger" and "Schmusetiger", leads through the songs.

The author's experience in publishing pedagogical guitar literature is evident in some of the details: alternating tirando or apoyando? The tone d' grip with the 3rd or 4th finger? Morandell tacitly but deliberately leaves such decisions to the teacher. The only drawback is that the tempo of the exercises on the CD provided is too fast for most children.

Andreas Knoblich and Philippe Loli: The Ping-Pong Guitar School. The new guitar method for all ages, Volume 1, N 2770, with practice app, € 19.90, Heinrichshofen & Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven

Robert Morandell: Gitarrentiger. Die tierisch gute Gitarrenschule für Kinder ab 6 Jahren, Vol. 1, D. 35 963, with CD, € 29.90, Doblinger, Vienna

The contract between the Lucerne Festival and the Kühne Foundation will initially run from 2020 to 2022. At a media briefing at Lucerne's KKL, Foundation President Klaus-Mchael Kühne emphasized that the Foundation has no interest in actively marketing the Kühne brand through sponsorship. The commitment therefore appears to have more of a patronage character. Lucerne Festival Director Michael Häfliger did not want to reveal any specific details about the financial scope of the agreement at the orientation.

The non-profit Kühne Foundation, based in Schindellegi, was established by the Kühne family in 1976. It promotes training and further education as well as research and science in the transport industry and logistics. It is involved in allergology research at the Hochgebirgsklinik Davos. The Kühne Foundation also runs the clinic, which focuses on the treatment and rehabilitation of allergies and heart disease. In the cultural field, it supports festivals, opera houses and concert halls in various European countries. It also plays an important role at the Salzburg Festival.

When one thinks of Dvořák's solo concertos, it is surely first and foremost his brilliant
Cello Concerto op. 104, "the perfect concerto ever", according to the pianist (!) Rudolf Buchbinder. His only piano concerto in G minor op. 33 is rarely heard in our concert halls. What are the reasons for this?

At the time, Dvořák already had some experience as a composer in the field of chamber music and symphonies. However, his very own tonal language is only partially revealed in the three movements of the work. Borrowings from masters such as Beethoven, Chopin, Wagner and Brahms are still unmistakable. This is particularly the case in the first movement, while the slow second movement already reveals very personal traits. However, what has repeatedly prevented many pianists from including this concerto in their repertoire is probably the unwieldy, uncomfortable piano writing, which sounds enchanting in places but does not allow for virtuoso showmanship.

For this reason, around 100 years ago, the Czech piano teacher Vilém Kurz felt compelled to thoroughly revise the solo part. For decades, only his version seems to have been played. One of the first pianists to champion the original version was none other than Sviatoslav Richter. He played the concerto quite frequently and even recorded it in 1976 with the Bavarian State Orchestra (under Carlos Kleiber!).

Robbert van Steijn recently republished this original version by Bärenreiter-Verlag, both the piano reduction and the score. The preface provides all kinds of enlightening information about the complicated history of the work's reception, and Ivo Kahánek adds some very useful tips on interpretation and fingering.

The growing interest in Dvořák's piano concerto in recent times cannot be overlooked. The new Bärenreiter edition will presumably reinforce this trend. András Schiff is probably not wrong when he says: "Numerous piano concertos of the 19th century, which are part of the repertoire of many pianists - and are played far too often - are no less complicated pianistically, without reaching Dvořák's work in terms of musical expression and compositional skill."

Antonín Dvořák: Concerto in G minor op. 33 for piano and orchestra, Urtext edited by Robbert van Steijn; score, BA 10420, € 59.00; piano reduction, BA 10420-90, € 32.50; Bärenreiter, Prague

This is the most suitable edition of Antonín Dvořák's trio for practical use! The pages are arranged by the editor so that you don't have to turn the pages until the end of the second movement, the paper is of a stable quality and the bar numbers are set at the beginning of each line and do not include the upbeat. None of the printed parts I know of in the past five decades fulfilled all these criteria at the same time. The concise Critical Report for this Urtext edition testifies to great care. Differences between the autograph score and the first printing of parts and score are pointed out in the notes. The editor Annette Oppermann gives priority to the most plausible solution in each case. The parts contain no bowing devices, only original fingerings, which are limited to occasional harmonics and empty strings. This is also a boon for the performers!

The story of how this gem of chamber music came about is amusing: in 1887, a chemistry student and amateur musician lived in Dvořák's house and received violin lessons in his room. While working on symphonic commissions, Dvořák heard the two violinists and was inspired to be the third violist in their ensemble. Due to a lack of literature for this instrumentation, he composed the Tercet op. 74 (the original Czech name) and shortly afterwards delivered the Drobnosti (trifles). The latter were arranged by the composer for violin and piano as Romantic pieces op. 75, however, is more popular.

The italianizing name Terzetto Opus 74 in C major was given a German title by Dvořák's publisher Fritz Simrock, who did not want to comply with the composer's wish for a Czech title in view of the German music market. The German name "Terzett", on the other hand, would have offended Dvořák's Bohemian homeland.

The sounds Antonín Dvořák conjures up with this small ensemble are masterly! And the instrumental demands remain appropriate to the level of advanced pupils and experienced amateurs. This edition now also makes rehearsals easier and banishes all worries when turning the pages.

Antonín Dvořák: Terzetto in C major op. 74, for two violins and viola, edited by Annette Oppermann; parts, HN 1235, € 12.00; study score, HN 7235, € 8.00; G. Henle, Munich

The questions are interesting: How much responsibility does a rock musician have? When does he or she reach the limit where provocation crosses over into taboo zones, into so-called "no-gos"? Rock and pop musicians have always dabbled in precarious areas - be it openly displayed sex fantasies (Rammstein eloquently: Bend over) or dark scenes of violence with references to the Third Reich (Slayer: Angel of Death). But not all the lyrics should be taken at face value. Some things - see Rammstein - are ironically broken, others - see Slayer - are deliberately inscribed with that scandal and are not necessarily politically motivated, but merely sales-promoting. A big outcry is advertising. It arouses interest.

The many pop and rock phenomena can hardly be reduced to a common denominator. In this respect, the author and pop critic Jens Balzer does well to start with a few selected examples. There are, for example, those rappers who have late adolescents in mind. "Young, brutal, good-looking xxx" is the slogan of rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang. Their lyrics are full of sex, violence and even anti-Semitism, which led to the Echo scandal. "My body more defined than by Auschwitz inmates", says the song 0815. Elsewhere they rap: "Make another Holocaust, come on with the Molotov."

Whether something like this can be justified with the concept of artistic freedom remains doubtful. For Balzer, in any case, such misconduct is an indication of the brutalization of morals. He sees clear parallels between music and today's politics, where Syrians, Muslims or Jews find themselves in the verbal crosshairs. For Balzer, pop's responsibility would mean a conscious counter-reaction to the new right in the sense of intelligent lyrics without phrases, without catchphrases à la Kollegah. And also a politically correct language, as he describes it in the case of the English performance artist Planningtorock, which is open to the different, the foreign in the sense of differentiated transgender considerations. "It's about," says Balzer, summing up, "the irreplaceable hope that pop can give us places and spaces, moments and opportunities in which people who are perhaps very different from ourselves meet us not as competitors and opponents, but as friends."

The 200-page book Pop and populism is already thought-provoking. However, it is questionable whether the cloak of silence would not be a better alternative than criticism, which is easy in the case of less intellectual rappers, but ultimately leads nowhere. Pop as a mass phenomenon is usually superficial to highly embarrassing per se. The same applies to right-wing politics. The lyrics there are also "emotional" - but far more dangerous than music for teenagers who just want to be strong.

Jens Balzer: Pop and populism. On responsibility in music, 206 p., € 17.00, Edition Körber, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-89684-272-5

Guitarist Elena Càsoli is always good for surprises. She is at the heart of today's music production and teaches guitar and interpretation of contemporary music at the Bern University of Music. On the Italian label stradivarius, she has already worked with StrongStrangeStrings caused a sensation, followed by Changes Chances with music by Cage, Carter and Riley.

Their latest CD is dedicated to the guitar music of the Italian spectral and computer musician Fausto Romitelli (1963-2004), who died at the age of just 41 after a long illness. Romitelli had studied in Milan and then continued his compositional training with Franco Donatoni. Following his interest in "sound research", he went to Paris in 1991 to come into contact with Hugues Dufourt and Gérard Grisey at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique). From 1993 to 1995 he was a "compositeur en recherche" there. As a young composer, he established himself as part of the "sound avant-garde" on the leading European stages for new music in the environment of Ligeti, Scelsi and Grisey and explored unheard-of sound dimensions, whether in the field of instrumental and vocal music or with electronics, live electronics and multimedia,

Elena Càsoli is also able to reveal Romitelli's visionary cosmos in his guitar pieces. Highly musical as she is, she creates the meticulously notated and therefore difficult to decipher scores with dramaturgical finesse and a multi-layered color palette.
Solar (1984) for solo guitar gives the CD its name. Càsoli knows how to make the quiet, shimmering beginning so exciting that you follow along with her with interest: it is a quiet piece full of surprises that unfolds a dramaturgically idiosyncratic and tonally differentiated poetry with few means. Càsoli is familiar with each of its finesses, and towards the end she even ponders the individual notes with a quiet hum.

The CD offers five first recordings, Solar is one of them. For the pieces that require two guitars or an electronic guitar, Càsoli has brought Virginia Arancio on board, as well as recorder player Teresa Hackel. This brings in Seascape (1994) and Simmetria d'oggetti (1987/88) for flute and guitar, Romitelli's imaginative approach to breathing is impressive. - Anyone who begins to listen to this CD will be captivated by the delicate, engaging world of sound.

In his English foreword (translated into French and German), the capable American editor Douglas Woodfull-Harris explains, with many quotations from the time, how Debussy only came up with the idea of composing chamber music at the end of his life: in 1914 he liked arrangements of two of his piano pieces by the Hungarian-American violinist Arthur Hartmann for violin and piano so much that he arranged another piece for this instrumentation - all three are included in this booklet - and gave an enchanting performance with Hartmann. He then planned the series of works Six Sonates pour divers instrumentsfrom which he was able to complete the Cello Sonata (1915), the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp (1916) and the Violin Sonata. In 1917, Debussy, who was suffering from cancer, worked on the premiere of the unfinished Violin Sonata with the violinist Gaston Poulet - his last public performance. We hear in detail about the circumstances of later performances and editions.

The sonata is printed here twice, according to the two most important sources. The large slurs of the first version correspond to the composer's phrasing intentions, those of the second to violin-technical requirements. Let us try to realize the first with the help of the second! In the Critical Commentary (English only) one is amazed at where the editor has tracked down sources: in Paris, Winterthur, Washington DC, Geneva. They provide the material for over a hundred annotations; they are valuable details for our own interpretation.

Claude Debussy: Works for violin and piano (Sonata, Minstrels, La fille aux cheveux de lin, Il pleure dans mon coeur), edited by Douglas Woodfull-Harris, BA 9444, € 18.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel

After the anthem for the Federal Folk Music Festival in Aarau was composed single-handedly by Hanspeter Zehnder in 2015 as a commissioned composition, this year the focus was on young talent. The composing weekend was initiated by SUISA and organized by Markus Brülisauer from the Swiss Folk Music Association (VSV) in collaboration with the organizing committee of the EVMF.

The organizers were responsible for selecting the invited musicians. Care was taken to ensure that the most common folk music instruments were represented. This is how Eva Engler on clarinet, Alessia Heim on hammered dulcimer, Jérôme Kuhn on double bass, Florian Wyrsch on Schwyzerörgeli and Siro Odermatt on accordion came together on a Saturday morning in May 2019 in Crans-Montana.

Apart from Siro Odermatt, who has been a SUISA member since 2017 and has already written several pieces himself, the young musicians did not have much experience in composing. That's why Dani Häusler, an experienced folk musician, was hired to lead the weekend.

The beginning on the white sheet of paper

Before the first notes rang out from the instruments they had brought with them in the seminar room of the "La Prairie" hotel, the group sat down at a table and literally began their work on the white sheet of paper. The first exchange of ideas was characterized by vague notions: A hymn - that's a big word. What should it be? How should it sound? How do we go about it? What type of dance is suitable? How do we find melodies and chords? And will we really be able to finish a piece by tomorrow, Sunday?

The director Dani Häusler provided food for thought, bundled the questions, together they looked for answers, the ideas and thoughts were recorded on paper, the ideas were fleshed out and soon a basis for the piece was defined - still on paper for the time being. After some discussion, the decision was made in favor of a Schottisch. They also wanted to have a text to sing along to.

After that, they played their instruments for the first time: The young people sat down in pairs or threes and collected musical ideas together. What had been worked out in the small groups was then presented to the whole group and supplemented with possible accompaniment parts. After some initial difficulties, the brilliant idea was found during the course of the Saturday afternoon and the framework of the anthem was completed by dinner.

This framework also included the draft lyrics for the piece, from which, in addition to the title-giving exclamation "Ab is Wälschland ...!", a pithy chant line immediately sticks in the mind: "Glich oder glich ned glich." Jérôme Kuhn explained: "There is folk music all over Switzerland, but in many areas there are different styles." Curious listeners can find out whether they are "the same or not the same" at the upcoming Federal Folk Music Festival in Crans-Montana.

The first performance

On Sunday morning, the individual parts of the piece were fine-tuned, particularly with regard to the arrangement. The musicians practiced their individual parts in groups or alone. Around midday, the newly created piece could be heard as a whole for the first time and was constantly refined in further rehearsals.

"The result is a piece that is easy on the ear, has something unique about it and yet is suitable for a large audience," said Siro Odermatt towards the end of the successful composing weekend. The anthem was then professionally recorded in the studio with the musicians and Dani Häusler and can be purchased on CD. All proceeds from the sale will go to the VSV Young Talent Fund.

The 13th Federal Folk Music Festival will take place in Crans-Montana from September 19-22, 2019.

> www.cransmontana2019.ch

Making of video and further information on the SUISA blog:

> www.suisablog.ch