Together with the Swiss National Sound Archives and with the support of other specialized institutions, such as Swiss Radio and Television SRF and the Lucerne Central and University Library, over 3000 artist biographies, 2500 hours of sound recordings, media reports and images, videos and all promotional material have been professionally processed.

The archive documents jazz and improvised music in Switzerland since the early 1990s. The audiovisual collection consists primarily of concerts, audio and video recordings recorded live by SRF, and recordings submitted by bands to the program committee.

The online archive will be launched at the opening of this year's festival on Wednesday, 22 May 2019 at the Kulturzentrum Kammgarn. Selected years will be accessible there at the start, and more will be added gradually.

What connects the city of Bern on the Aare with the Black Sea metropolis of Odessa? Nothing, unless you consider the "Odessa Classics in Bern" concert held at the Yehudi Menuhin Forum as part of the Ukrainian Culture Days. Alongside violinist Michael Guttmann and cellist Samuel Justitz, Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov sits at the grand piano and plays in such a way that it is immediately clear: Someone has a mission here - Odessa Classics. The pianist, who often makes guest appearances in Switzerland and has been an indispensable pillar of many ballets by choreographer Heinz Spoerli (Goldberg variations) was and is tirelessly committed to the festival in his home town.

Photo: Odessa Classics

Festival director Alexey Botvinov

The now 54-year-old musician founded it at a time when the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine was flaring up, which continues to this day. "Suddenly the war was there. Nobody could have imagined it," says Botvinov, speaking of his anger and inner protest, but also of his pain and grief over the many people who died. "At the time, I thought to myself: What can I do to counter the war and the terrible situation that is unsettling everyone?" Music! "Friends did say to me: What you're imagining with your festival is completely unrealistic." But Botvinov got the Odessa Classics festival off the ground, which was primarily funded by private individuals, but now also by the city of Odessa and the region. It was successfully staged for the first time in 2015. The initial four festival days have now grown to nine. "But I want to expand even further - to two or maybe even three weeks," emphasizes Botvinov and dreams of "a Salzburg for Eastern Europe". This doesn't seem unrealistic at all when you consider the growing number of visitors who come from places like Kiev, Kharkiv, Lviv (Lemberg) and, increasingly, from abroad.

Those traveling to Odessa from Western Europe may be surprised to find the same artists and ensembles in the playful Mediterranean port city as in their home country. In the recent past, these have included Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengorov, Dimitri Ashkenazy, Antonio Meneses and Matthias Goerne; this year, you will encounter pianists Cyprien Katsaris and Pietro De Maria, violinist Daniel Hope, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Mischa Maisky Trio. A glance at the program shows that a large number of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Vivaldi and Gershwin will be performed. Tango Sensations but also compositions by Piazzolla, Lipesker and Bernstein. Roby Lakatos and his ensemble reinforce the impression of a festival that offers much for many. So just standard repertoire? "No," says Alexey Botvinov, "we are also dedicating an entire evening to the contemporary Georgian composer Gija Kantscheli. He now lives in Antwerp, but is keen to come to Odessa."

Photo: Odessa Classics

Daniel Hope (right) is Artist in Residence

If you want to understand the meaning of Odessa Classics, the pianist emphasizes again and again, you should never forget one thing: "Ukraine became independent in 1991. But since then, no great artists from abroad have come to our country. Artists and composers who have long been known to Western Europeans are often not familiar to Ukrainians, which also applies to a composer like Erwin Schulhoff, for example. That's why I have to try to maintain a balance between the known and the unknown. Stars are very important for our audience. They have missed them in the recent past; now they should be able to get to know them." One of them is Daniel Hope, who will be Artist in Residence at Odessa Classics for three years.

As part of an extra series with highly talented young Ukrainian musicians under the motto "Pilgrims", specialties such as the concert "Mirror in the Mirror" with works by Arvo Pärt and Max Richter will be cultivated. A youth music competition will also be organized. In addition to a cash prize, the winner will also have the opportunity to perform at the free open-air festival at the foot of the Potemkin Stairs, which director Sergei Eisenstein depicted in his film Battleship Potemkin world-famous. In short: Alexey Botvinov is attempting a balancing act with Odessa Classics. On the one hand, he wants to appeal to "the local audience, who love and understand music", and on the other, to a Western European audience.

Photo: Odessa Classics

Concert at the Potemkin Stairs

In addition to the main concerts in the magnificently renovated Opera House and the Philharmonic Hall, the main attraction is Odessa, the port city founded by Catherine the Great in 1794, with its eastern charm and southern flair. The history of today's metropolis of millions has traditionally been shaped by many peoples, religions and art. Alexander Pushkin once said: "In Odessa, you breathe Europe." Without the inspiring effect of this city, would the poet ever have written his verse novel Eugene Onegin would have written? But Odessa is also the home of legendary violinists such as David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein and Zakhar Bron, and no less legendary pianists such as Emil Gilels, Svyatoslav Richter and Shura Cherkassky.

Yes, Odessa is irresistible, says Alexey Botvinov. Even he is constantly surprised by the special atmosphere of his home city. During the festival period, especially at the open-air concert: "When I look up at the 10,000 spectators on the steps of the Potemkin Staircase, it's an incomparable experience every time."
 

Subscribers to the Thurgau Cantonal Library can now use the music streaming service "Freegal Music" to discover tracks from a collection of over 15 million songs, music videos and audio books from more than 40,000 music labels worldwide, including Sony Music, Epic, RCA and Columbia. You can browse through playlists or create your own wish list.

With this offer, users can stream three hours of music, music videos or audio books every day. In addition, three free downloads of music or music videos are possible every week. The service can be used directly via the website or a free app without any additional software. All you need is a library card from the Thurgau Cantonal Library.

"How do we want to live?" is the motto of this year's Heidelberg Spring (March 16 to April 14). It is the final part of the Enlightenment trilogy, which in previous years dealt with the "foreign" and the "own species". In addition to orchestral concerts, chamber music and recitals, the festival also includes its own master classes such as the Chamber Music Academy led by Igor Levit and Thomas Hampson's Lied Academy, the artistic results of which can be heard in the festival program. Artistic Director Thorsten Schmidt is looking to the future, especially in the so-called LAB, which brings together representatives of different arts and experiments with new concert and music theater forms. With the world premiere of Castor&&Pollux the dignified, wood-panelled old auditorium of Heidelberg University presented a "multimedia music theater for ensemble, video art and 4D sound", as the 70-minute evening is called. That at least sounds very innovative and like a new listening experience. A grid floor has been installed in the old auditorium. Some ladies therefore have to swap their heels for heels at the entrance to avoid getting stuck in the walk-in sound system. An eight-column loudspeaker construction stands in the middle of the hall. Several monitors and a large screen at the head of the hall, where the baroque ensemble The Rossetti Players under the direction of Barbara Konrad is also positioned, complete the setting. The eight members of the vocal ensemble have mingled with the audience, some of whom are seated on wooden beams.

The evening is on the trail of the eternal desire for immortality and seeks to build a bridge between the ancient myth of Castor and Pollux and artificial intelligence, between the baroque sounds of Jean-Philippe Rameau's opera of the same name and the live electronics of Lukas Rehm, who also shot the videos for the evening. Unfortunately, the production (Lisa Charlotte Friederich: libretto and direction; Jim Igor Kallenberg: dramaturgy) does not live up to its promise. It gets tangled up in the many references it tries to spin. Above all, it creates too little musical-theatrical presence. Even the beginning is wasted when Natalie Pérez tells the entire story of the human-divine twins Castor and Pollux in a matter-of-fact way. What musical drama could have been developed from individual scenes, such as when Castor is fatally injured and has to go to the underworld, when Pollux is torn apart by longing and follows his brother to Hades for a day. Rameau's overture is only heard afterwards - initially played in a bouncy, majestic manner by the nine-piece baroque ensemble, then digitally processed and sent over the loudspeakers. The machine replaces the human. Videos of the Castor and Pollux massif in the Valais Alps flicker across the monitors, followed by statements from scientists and purely digital landscapes. The eight singers wander through the room, introduce themselves as Castor or Pollux and talk about the Heidelberg Human Brain Project, for which a human brain is being recreated as a giant computer in a four-storey building. The sung arias, duets and choruses by Rameau can create individual touching moments, but hang incoherently in the room. In between, Lukas Rehm's electronic music repeatedly shapes the action with billowing soundscapes, multicolored noise and thoroughly fascinating sound creations in excellent sound quality. However, there is no compelling contact between the various elements of the evening. Castor&&Pollux resembles a collage - assembled from set pieces that have too little to do with each other. The characters in this laboratory experiment remain the same until the final chorus Que les cieux, que la terre faceless and interchangeable.

David Philip Heftis Media nox for flute and chamber orchestra, on the other hand, has a very special tone. The work commissioned by the Heidelberger Frühling is the Swiss composer's third work in his four-part cycle Night watch. From the very beginning, it unfolds a special atmosphere between calm and restlessness, blurred and clear contours, tonal centers and quarter-tone ambiguities. For the flute part, which Tatjana Ruhland, principal flutist with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, models with the greatest art of differentiation, Hefti demands modern playing techniques such as multiphonics, percussive slap toungs and glissandi, which repeatedly pull the rug from under the feet. Hefti plays with timbres when the same tone is constantly remixed by the different registers. The Deutsche Radio-Philharmonie Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern, under the sensitive direction of Jamie Phillips, also gets involved in this fragile music, which is enriched with many shades and which sometimes emerges for a moment from the twilight state into the glistening light and makes nightmarish grimaces.

Together with Simone Escher and Kaspar Pankow, Julia van der Waerden is once again opening her workshop in Zurich's Hunzikerareal to violin making experts, active musicians and other interested parties. Some of the best European bow makers will be guests. In addition to Kaspar Pankow from Zurich, Doriane Bodart, Josephine Thomachot and Pierre Nehr will be coming from Paris, Verena Schauer from London, Jutta Walcher from Oxford and Andrea Proietti from Cesena.

In addition to the exhibition, there will be a supporting program with concerts (Duo Gehweiler, Gadjolinos), lectures (Kaspar Pankow, Thomastik Imfeld), a sound rehearsal (Marc Luisoni and Ronny Spiegel) and a dinner in the workshop with violinist Nina Ulli.

Program, dates, times and location: werkplatzgeige.ch
 

As announced by the Valais State Chancellery on April 18, the State Council created the "Valais Culture and Economy Prize" in 2018 on the basis of a joint initiative by the Department of Health, Social Affairs and Culture and the Department of Economic Affairs and Education. The aim was to honour and recognize the commitment of an institution, company or event that dedicates its activities to cultural and economic development. The prize, endowed with CHF 20,000, is awarded annually.

The decisive selection criteria are: "originality, quality and exemplary character of the productions and realizations recognized by cultural and economic circles; reach and long-term national and international appeal; cultural and economic impact for Valais; solid, long-term financing model."

The State Chancellery continues: "In 1974, the Hungarian musician György Sebök founded a music festival in Ernen. For him, the village was an oasis of culture and music, far away from the hustle and bustle: great music in a simple setting. A plausible concept with which he brought together exceptional musicians. Today, a literature week and a writing workshop are also held as part of the music festival. Although the death of the founder (1999) can be a difficult moment for a festival of this level, the Musikdorf Ernen association knew how to carry on his work. The association thus continues to make an important contribution to the musical image of Valais. It also makes a significant contribution to the attractiveness of the municipality of Ernen and the region. As a strong sign of recognition, the association received the Prix Montagne in 2013.

The association covers around three quarters of its budget of CHF 770,000 through the sale of its productions, sponsorship, private patrons and the direct contributions of its 470 members. The municipalities of Ernen and Brig, the canton and the Loterie Romande contribute just over a quarter with 200,000 francs (2018). These four sources of funding give the music village stability and longevity. The association thus finances half a million francs worth of wages and services in Valais. The organizers estimate the direct added value for the regional economy at around 2 million francs."
 

Traditionally, the reigning Swiss champion is allowed to take part in the annual competition as Switzerland's representative and compete for the title of European Brass Band Champion. The Valaisia Brass Band, the reigning European champion, won the Swiss Brass Band Competition last fall. However, it was already pre-qualified for the 2019 European Brass Band Competition, which means that the BML, as the second-placed Swiss band, is also entitled to a starting place. 

The European Brass Band Competition takes place in a different country each year and is being held this year in Montreux, Switzerland. The BML was the first Swiss band to win the competition in Perth (Scotland) in 2014.

The main task of the position is to implement the city council's strategic mandate to position Winterthur as a city of culture. According to the press release, "the first step will be to compile an overview of the marketing activities of Winterthur's cultural players in order to subsequently determine the priority measures in the area of overarching cultural marketing". At the same time, a digital museum pass for Winterthur's museums will be launched as an initial measure to replace the existing analog museum pass.

32-year-old Laura Bösiger has lived in Winterthur for 13 years. She studied journalism and organizational communication and has extensive project experience in the cultural, communication, catering, event and marketing sectors. Laura Bösiger has been Co-Managing Director of the Winterthur Music Festival for three years and will remain so until after this year's festival.
 

More than 60 candidates applied to succeed Lucerne's artistic director Benedikt von Peter, who is moving to Theater Basel. The Lucerne Theater Foundation Board unanimously elected the future artistic director. Her contract initially covers the 2021/22 to 2025/26 seasons.

Despite the large number of applications, the selection committee decided to appoint the future artistic director directly. Karr was born in Stuttgart in July 1968 and studied music, musicology and modern German literary history. She was a dramaturge and project manager for contemporary music and music theater, worked at the Nationaltheater Mannheim before moving to the Oldenburg State Theater as opera director and finally joining the Mainz State Theater as chief dramaturge for opera.

In 2018, Ina Karr was also a production dramaturge at the Salzburg Festival for Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute". She develops new works in the field of music theater for young audiences, publishes in specialist magazines and is a regular jury member.

The cellist and conductor Anita Jehli is being honored in particular for her great commitment to the Orchestrina Chur. She studied cello at the Zurich University of Music with Markus Stocker and Claude Starck and is the winner of the Kiwanis Music Prize, the Chamber Music Prize of the Migros Cooperative Association and the Koeckert Prize for Cello at the Zurich University of Music.

Today Anita Jehli is the solo cellist of Camerata Schweiz. She is also increasingly active as a conductor. She has been musical director of the Zurich Old Town Church Orchestra since 2005 and of Orchestrina Chur since 2013.

The Chur Recognition Prizes are awarded in recognition of at least ten years of cultural work that is of importance to the city and its immediate region. The municipal council of the city of Chur has also approved a partial revision of Art. 10 of the Ordinance to the Cultural Promotion Act. The revision allows a total of six prizes to be awarded in 2019, i.e. one more prize than previously.

A one-off contribution of CHF 3.7 million to the Tonhalle Society is required to cover the additional costs. In addition to the endowment capital allocated to the Kongresshaus-Stiftung in 2016 (CHF 165 million), an investment contribution to the Kongresshaus-Stiftung of CHF 9.4 million is required to cover the additional construction costs.

In addition, the Tonhalle Society requires a one-off contribution of CHF 3.7 million to cover the costs resulting from the postponement. The main reasons for the additional costs and the postponement are a deterioration in the building fabric, conflicting objectives and imprecise planning.

I've never been to Hall 12 before. The first thing I do here is enter an Indiana Jones world. A jungle overgrows decaying ruins, the sounds of animals and water can be heard, fog wafts through the scenery: a company specializing in projections and effects shows off its skills on a grand scale. Even after you have crossed the wilderness, the entire hall is all about event and media technology, from dance flooring to laser control. It is part of the partner trade fair prolight + sound, which takes place at the same time as Musikmesse.

While a lot of visitors (at least 90 % men) are crowding through the aisles here, it's quieter in the halls of the Musikmesse. At least in Hall 3.1, where I have an appointment with representatives of music publishers. Last year, they had their stands in a noisy hall next to the Bundeswehr brass band, among others. The stringed instruments and accordions with which they share the space this year are far more conducive to conversations about the latest editions of sheet music and music books. However, the hall now has an empty corner.

There are actually fewer exhibitors from the publishing houses, smaller publishers are often only present at collective stands, and national representatives of the respective music industry are now very few and far between. Is this a consequence of digitalization? A publisher's program can easily be viewed and consulted online. Musical instruments, on the other hand, still want to be viewed and played in analog form, even if many of them have long since been equipped with digital features. For example, pianos that can be turned into digital pianos at the touch of a button, with the sound coming from headphones, or drums that are compatible with the home. Materials for instrument making will be presented, modeled on wood, but improved, as they say; and violins from the 3D printer. One innovation that has already won several awards is the Gvido music reader, which is opened like a notebook and consists of two portrait-format pages or screens on which notes can be written and saved. The stands offering - grown - sound wood or therapeutic instruments, such as a sound cradle for adults in which you can lie down and let the sound of strings flow through you, seem like a deliberate departure from the technical.

The increasing popularity of the Leipzig Book Fair probably also plays a role in the reduction of the exhibitor list as far as music publishers are concerned. This is a trade fair for the general public. In Frankfurt, the focus is on the opposite trend. In the official trade fair catalog, Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt, explains the new concept, according to which the actual trade fair no longer lasts until Saturday: "Business first! (...) For the first time, the event will open on four working days (...), thus underlining its focus on trade visitors." The general public and city dwellers are invited to the Musikmesse Festival, concerts on the exhibition grounds and in city clubs, and to the Plaza Saturday, a mixture of musical market and folk festival. School classes are invited to the Congress Center, where they can try out musical instruments of all kinds.

The trade fair for the experts, the spectacle for the public: that makes sense. However, the publishers, whose professional contacts, i.e. music dealers, are becoming fewer and fewer, are probably not served by this. It is therefore understandable that they are looking to Leipzig. There are even plans to hold their own music fair there in the fall. For the time being, however, they can be found in Frankfurt, and they are also making it quite clear what the classical music industry will be focusing on next year: Beethoven! The 250th birthday is rightly already taking place here, because what will be played and discussed in 2020 is now available in sheet music editions and books.

The Ascona Jazz Award 2019 will be presented to Leroy Jones on Tuesday, June 25, at his concert on the New Orleans stage. The artist will be honored "for the exceptional quality of his musical achievements". Born in 1955, Leroy Jones is one of the most important trumpet players (and singers) in New Orleans in recent decades, a leading representative of a musical movement that upholds the jazz tradition of New Orleans while at the same time rejuvenating it.

In the case of Leroy Jones, writes Jazz Ascona, this leads to a "recognizable sound from the very first note" due to his strong soloist personality and a clear tendency to integrate expressive elements of bebop (in particular) into his music.

The Bern International Jazz Festival was founded in 1976 by hotel entrepreneur Hans Zurbrügg. It is now run by his son Benny Zurbrügg. The 44th edition has been in full swing since mid-March and once again offers no experiments, but rather cultivated sounds. "Basically, we are sticking to remaining a genuine jazz festival and not trying to cram in everything that has sales potential in terms of style," explains Benny Zurbrügg. What has changed since the early days is the main venue, which was moved from the Kursaal Bern to the much more intimate Marians Jazzroom in the basement of the Hotel Innere Enge in 2003. This was under the motto "back to the roots"; after all, both jazz and blues originated in clubs. "Since then, each band has played one or two concerts a night with us, which gives the audience the chance to see their favorite band several times."

IJFB 2019

Bettye LaVette

The concept seems to work, as this year's example of Bettye LaVette illustrates: Four of her five concerts were sold out in advance. And not by chance, as her third appearance suggests: Accompanied by her four-piece band, the 73-year-old R'n'B and soul singer takes us through the highlights of her career since 1962. She is sometimes self-deprecating ("At my age, you shouldn't be trying to learn twelve new Dylan songs"), sometimes proud: she mentions several times that she has already been nominated five times for the most coveted of all music awards, the Grammy. The voice of Bettye LaVette, real name Betty Jo Haskins, may be showing a few signs of age, but it still manages to captivate with passion, temperament and a great deal of self-confidence. While the US-American sings the Dylan composition Things Have Changed with verve, blues and her accumulated life experience, she offers with My Man - He's A Lovin' Man a piece she performed at the age of 16 - is as crisp as it is blunt R'n'B. The 80-minute performance, during which LaVette also performed at Swamp Rock (He Made A Woman Out Of Me) and gospel (Close As I'll Get To Heaven) is dense and so full of tension that the audience feels inspired to give a standing ovation at the end of the concert.

IJFB 2019

Jerron Paxton

An hour later, Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton begins to set up on the stage of Marian's Jazzroom. The 30-year-old wears denim dungarees and looks a little like a farmer from the old days. His music, which is mainly based on the acoustic folk blues of the early 1920s, fits in with this. The audience of around 50 listeners can hear how Paxton - who almost completely lost his sight as a teenager - traces the sound of his ancestors from Louisiana and strives for the greatest possible authenticity. Particularly impressive Ole Dog Bluein which the artist reports on the years of famine following the American Civil War, during which one million black people perished. The organic interplay of banjo sounds and Paxton's haunting vocals provides a highlight. According to festival director Benny Zurbrügg, the fact that the event is not sold out is due to the fact that the musician is unfortunately not yet as well known as Bettye LaVette. However, he is convinced that the evening double concerts are perfect for promoting the popularity of artists like Paxton.

After three weeks of the festival, it is still too early to draw any conclusions, explains Zurbrügg. "But the concerts so far have been a complete success, both artistically and in terms of visitor numbers." This view is also supported by the appearance of music legend Eddie Palmieri. The 82-year-old, who never saw himself as a jazz musician but as a representative of Latin dance, needs a little help to get to his grand piano, but the New Yorker with Puerto Rican roots leads his Afro-Carribean jazz sextet with the same steady hand. However, he leaves most of the spotlight and solos to trumpeter Jonathan Powell and saxophonist Louis Fouché, who provide plenty of drive and pressure. Although Palmieri plays songs such as Mambo Picadillo from the pen of Tito Puente or Samba Do Suenho by Cal Tjader, the result impresses with its light-footedness. This is not least thanks to his adept rhythm section, consisting of Vincente Rivero on congas, Luques Cortes on double bass and percussionist Camilo Molina. The trio knows how to vary non-stop between the intricate and the elegant - which makes for a firework of thrilling moments.

IJFB 2019

Eddie Palmieri and the Afro-Carribean Jazz Sextet

According to the HKB's press release, the four-member jury selected five works from 44 entries, with Samuel Cosandey's "...Sommerzeit?" winning the first prize of 1500 euros. The five works will be premiered at the prizewinners' concert by students of the organ class at the Stuttgart University of Music on the Mühleisen organ.

Samuel Cosandey studied New Music at the HKB with Daniel Glaus and Xavier Dayer in the Master Specialized Music Performance and graduated with distinction in June 2018.