On the one hand fueled by an idealistic life plan, on the other hand driven by the need to earn a living: The three-day conference was dedicated to this contradiction, which is particularly virulent for creative artists About life At the end of April at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK. Artists from almost all disciplines presented their survival strategies and summarized their experiences; academics provided the theoretical underpinning for the topic. Certainly, an artistically and socially important topic and, above all, an explosive one for the university's students. The only strange thing was that there were no musicians among the speakers. As if sound artists were not affected by the problem.

With Diedrich Diederichsen, however, the organizers at least offered the German luminary of intellectual dissection of pop music par excellence. This compensated somewhat for those interested primarily in musical life, even if one would have liked to hear more about the intertwining of artistic concepts, self-promotion and self-marketing in serious music. However, Diederichsen is truly an expert in this field. Not only did he deliver in 2008 with Self-blood doping. Self-utilization, artistic romanticism, participation a standard work, but is also a gifted performer of himself. This can be seen not least in his constantly elaborate language: he is actually convincing in his refusal to use banalities and carries the style of sophisticated formulations in front of him like an advertising banner.
 

Appropriately, he gave his presentation Incomplete biography The book also takes the form of a self-critical autobiography. Diederichsen, who has worked as a cultural scientist, critic, journalist, curator, author and university lecturer, among other things, posed the questions of how he could adequately bear witness to what he does and is, what this reveals about himself and what dangers lie in such actions. He did this by reversing the usual distribution of roles, in which artists report subjectively about themselves and scientists objectively about others. In doing so, he came up with two basic strategies of self-narration:

One way in which he has inscribed his biography into existing contexts is by applying it to the school system. From this perspective, it is about the way in which lecturers define their role. Not only there, but especially at art colleges, it can often be observed that the lecturer stages himself as a rather random person standing in front of the class or the student, trying to deny the authority gap between himself and the students by ironizing it. As if it could be made to disappear by separating oneself from the function one performs. Not only is the attempt futile, the main problem with this strategy is that it removes personal responsibility. Unfortunately, Diederichsen did not offer any concrete solutions as to how things could be done better.

Diederichsen then presented the possibility of a "negative list" as an alternative form of life description. A list of what one does not, may not, has not done, including things such as: "I don't have a doctorate", "no children" or "no functional kitchen". In summary, this list presents an irresponsibility disguised as the opposite of bungling; nothing in it is directed towards any kind of future. He thus shared the attitude of monks, dandies, columnists and snobs or, more generally, diagnosticians. This was followed by a criticism of the diagnosticians of this world, who stated their condition but could not present a solution, as the diagnosis was made completely independently of any possible treatment. Diagnosticians had objectified themselves out of the world and could therefore no longer intervene, i.e. cure.

At this point, the two presented strategies of self-narration come together again, or rather the criticism of them. Both involve relativizing oneself. But, according to Diederichsen, you cannot get rid of your subjective entanglements with the world by objectifying them. You have to cultivate them, not negate them. In this respect, the lecture was a plea for a subjective approach to the world and, in a way, also a justification of Diederichsen's work. After all, it has always been characterized by a bluntly subjective point of view. His critiques were always also confrontations with his own aesthetic premises.

As an audience member, it has to be said that the music journalist certainly benefited more from the lecture than the budding artists in the room. Because as such, as Diederichsen himself points out, you have to be recognizable to the market and develop a signature style. This is not compatible with an intellectual attitude of refusal, as demonstrated by the "negative list".
 

The Future Band is a regional youth formation for wind music, whose sponsors include the Buckten Music Society, the Rünenberg Music Society, the Läufelfingen Wind Ensemble and the Wisen Music Society (SO). The Future Band regularly takes part in cantonal and regional youth music competitions and wins prizes among the best in good succession. It also takes part in concerts organized by its sponsoring associations.

The Future Band is led by conductor Roger Leoni. A committee with management and band representatives ensures and promotes the involvement of young people in the organizational and strategic processes. According to the canton's press release, the band "impresses with its good gender mix, the committed networking work of the management with the involvement of young people and the early and binding integration of young people into the regular clubs".

According to the canton, the Future Band is "a model that points the way to future-oriented work with young talent in the area of voluntary association work, also outside the brass band scene". The Canton Basel-Landschaft prize for the promotion of young talent is endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs.

The study "Art in the Immigration Society" by Burcu Dogramaci and Barbara Haack will be published on the occasion of the Unesco World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development on May 21.

Christine M. Merkel, Head of the Culture Division of the German Unesco Commission, explains that cultural institutions need suitable structures and framework conditions to be able to adapt to the conditions of a migration society. Cultural institutions need long-term funding and planning security. Then it would be possible to perform other repertoires and to have more diverse ensembles. It's not just about art for migrants, but also about art by and with migrants.

The central recommendations of the study: It is worthwhile to further expand the existing intercultural offerings of publicly funded art and cultural institutions and to consolidate successful offerings; special resources to promote artistic competence and self-organization should reduce the access barriers for artists with a migration background; long-term funding structures are the basis for the implementation of innovative projects.

The Jeki ("An instrument for every child") Bern program was launched in 2011. The Institute of Musicology at the University of Bern has investigated whether and how Jeki children from socially and financially disadvantaged families can be reached by the program, as detailed in a press release from the Bern Conservatory Music School. The study confirmed the expected positive effect of the Jeki program in Bern, which is offered throughout the district schools in Bern-West.

According to the study, the number of singing classes rose from 4 to 24 during the pilot phase and the number of instrumental pupils from 10 to 67. In terms of quality, a high level of satisfaction was noted among all participants. And not only among the primary school teachers and the Jeki teachers, but also among the Jeki children, the first and second graders.

In the musical field, a clear improvement in vocal skills was achieved. The development of musicality in general and an increase in the sense of rhythm are measurable. What's more, attentive listening, increased concentration and improved social behavior can also be observed in school lessons. Overall, this in turn has a positive effect on class cohesion.

More info: www.konsibern.ch/jeki-bern/home/
 

On March 14, 1944, five months before the end of the German occupation of Paris, an illustrious group of literary figures gathered in the rooms of the Leiris gallery owners to perform a new play in a staged reading: Le désir attrapé par la queue. It was written by Pablo Picasso, directed by Albert Camus and starred Michel Leiris and his wife Louise as well as Raymond Queneau, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Among the guests were Georges Braque and Jacques Lacan. The private premiere was a chamber play in six short acts, written in the most beautiful surrealist manner according to the principle of "écriture automatique", spontaneous-associative writing largely uninfluenced by reflection. Picasso's exuberant creative energy manifests itself in a firework of bizarre metaphors and absurd associations of concepts. The protagonists have names such as Plumpfuss, Zwiebel, Torte, Cousine, die fette und die leere Angst - at least that is what they are called in the German translation by Paul Celan, which was published in 1954 under the title How to take wishes by the tail was published. Four years earlier, the play had been staged for the first time in London, followed by a performance in a basement theater in Bern in 1956, directed by Daniel Spoerri and with stage design by Meret Oppenheim. Since then, the surrealist curiosity has been performed here and there from time to time.

The most recent production was staged in Italian in Lugano in May. The participants in this production by SUPSI, the Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana, were students from the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, the Academy of Teatro Dimitri and the "Visual Communication" department. With Brecht Threepenny Opera, with Satyricon by Bruno Maderna and Kraanerg by Iannis Xenakis, challenging projects had already been realized in previous years, and the current production of the Picasso text continued the series at a high level. Such experimental projects are obviously in the best of hands with the young talents, who are unencumbered by routine. The enthusiasm of the performers on stage, the witty and imaginative staging and the orchestra excellently rehearsed by Arturo Tamayo, from which the clarinettist stood out several times with beautifully played solos, ensured a resounding success with the audience, and one wonders why the established institutions cannot or do not want to do something like this.

The experimental openness of Picasso's text allows for any kind of realization, and the present performance was the exact opposite of the intimate premiere of 1944. The large stage in the sold-out hall of the LAC Lugano was used to its full width; in the orchestra pit in front of it was an ensemble of stately chamber orchestra size - all in all, a dispositive as in an opera performance.

Language, acting, dance, music and a stage set consisting of a few graphic, simple, mobile elements merged seamlessly into a multimedia Gesamtkunstwerk. This is obviously a specialty of the experienced Czech director Pavel Štourač, as can be seen from the videos available online. He demanded everything from the actors in order to create a varied sequence of grotesque scenes, from danced choreography to solo pantomime and role-playing. And all of this in connection with a textual level in which the language presented itself in ever-changing functions: as a read recitation and as role prose, as a body of text split between several characters, as a dense polyphony of speech, excited tutti cries or as material for experimental sound and syllable acrobatics. The simultaneity of speaking and acting in scenes of sometimes almost circus-like proportions posed no problem for the performers, nor did the volumes of text in Italian, French and English that had to be memorized. This gave each individual scene its own character. The insinuations that Picasso put into the mouth of Plumpfuss in dialog with his beloved cake were choreographically counteracted in a witty way, and the scene was suddenly extended into the auditorium with an actress wandering through the rows of audience members.

It was a happy idea to combine Picasso's text with two works by Stravinsky written around the same time. Tamayo and the orchestra had Danses concertantes and the orchestra concert Dumbarton Oaks which were then cleverly linked to the spoken text. Larger parts were inserted as independently audible intermezzi, others were used as a basis for small monodrama parts or placed in excerpts between the text blocks. The rhythmically and intonationally delicate pieces were performed with concentrated care. The all-round successful conversion of Picasso's spoken text into a piece of lively music theater makes us curious about next year's sequel.

The anniversary year 2018 provides an opportunity to look back on the history. This will be done with a book publication that is currently in preparation. On the other hand, the instruments are to speak in a special way: In collaboration with local organizers of organ concert series, a varied annual programme has been put together with important Goll organs in Zug, Lucerne, Horw, Hochdorf, Bern and Visp. In addition to the concerts, in which the sound characteristics of the organs were explored, there were opportunities to meet and exchange ideas.

As a special highlight, there will be a celebratory concert at the KKL on May 15, 2018, exactly 150 years to the day after the workshop was founded. The Goll organ there will naturally take center stage, surrounded by a large orchestra. Among other works, the Symphonie concertante by Belgian composer Joseph Jongen, which prominently presents the organ as a solo instrument, embedded in the colorful sounds of the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz under the direction of Marcus Bosch. The solo part will be played by Christian Schmitt.

The project Andreas Schaerer & Hildegard Lernt Fliegen meets the Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy would have been honored in the Large Ensemble category. Andreas Schaerer could also have received an Echo Jazz in the Ensemble International category together with Emile Parisien, Vincent Peirani and Michael Wollny.

After the scandal, the plan was to hold the Echo Jazz on May 31 in a small circle and without a TV broadcast. This ceremony will now also not take place. The award winners chosen by Echo Jazz in March will receive their awards in person if they wish. The Federal Association writes that the Echo brand has been so badly damaged that a completely new start is necessary, which will also entail a reorganization of Echo Klassik and Echo Jazz.

Corentin Marillier is completing a Master's degree in Interpretation of Contemporary Music and Camille Quinton a Master's degree in Orchestra. The Edwin Fischer Recognition Prize, endowed with 1,000 francs, goes to oboe student Tomoko Uehara, who is studying for a Master's degree in Performance.

For the first time ever in the history of the competition, a percussion student was honored, and for the first time, all of the works performed were from the 20th or 21st century.

The Edwin Fischer Competition is organized in memory of Edwin Fischer (1886 to 1960) by the Lucerne School of Music and the Foundation for Music Promotion at the Lucerne School of Music in consultation with the Edwin Fischer Foundation. It is an annual competition for the Master's students of this university in the classical music profile.

Born in Schaffhausen in 1941, Irène Schweizer is one of the formative personalities of modern jazz. The pianist and drummer explored the London and Zurich jazz scene in the 1960s. In 1968, she met her long-time companion, the drummer Pierre Favre, in Zurich and together they continued to provide important impulses in the field of free jazz and improvised piano playing. To this day, she is committed to the European women's music movement. She is a co-founder of the Taktlos Festival, the Workshop for Improvised Music Zurich (WIM) and the jazz label Intakt.

The Swiss Music Awards recognize "outstanding and innovative Swiss music" and contribute to its promotion. 13 musicians and one ensemble will be honored with a Swiss Music Prize: Noldi Alder (Urnäsch, AR), Dieter Ammann (Zofingen, AG), Basil Anliker alias Baze (Bern), Pierre Audétat (Lausanne), Laure Betris alias Kassette (Fribourg), Sylvie Courvoisier (New York), Jacques Demierre (Geneva), Ganesh Geymeier (Moudon, VD), Marcello Giuliani (Paris and Lausanne), Thomas Kessler (Allschwil, BL), Mondrian Ensemble (Basel), Luca Pianca (Lugano), Linéa Racine aka Evelinn Trouble (London and Zurich), Willi Valotti (Nesslau, SG). The award ceremony will take place on September 13, 2018 as part of the Label Suisse festival in Lausanne.

Wagner's monumental opera Tristan and Isolde, performed in three quarters of an hour - is that possible? If you limit yourself to the essentials, are satisfied with a grand piano as an "orchestra" and have a good arranger at your side, then it is indeed possible. The Swiss Richard Wagner Society dared to embark on this adventure on April 21 under the title O sink down ... in the Great Hall of the Zurich Conservatory Music School.

A "collage according to Tristan and Isolde", the semi-staged concept came from John H. Müller, who has been a committed "Wagnerian" for many years. Pianist and composer Edward Rushton, who also sat at the piano, was responsible for the musical arrangement. He quickly proved to be a masterful accompanist who left his mark on the performance with a feeling for dramatic intensification and an unprecedented sense of sound.

Rushton's cuts focused on the essentials: in the first act on the expiatory love potion scene, in the second act on the night of love followed by King Mark's appearance. The third act consisted of a very short Tristan suffering scene and Isolde's love death, which was no less abbreviated. It was certainly not easy for Mona Somm, who sang Isolde with great success in Erl in 2015, to master this version, but she succeeded well. However, her voice seemed a little pressed in the middle register.

Rolf Romei has proven himself at the Theater Basel in the roles of Lohengrin and Parsifal, now he tried his hand at the mini-Tristan. His voice is somewhat unpredictable, at times absolutely top-notch, at other times he has to survive strange breaks, only to continue singing again with aplomb. Martin Snell intervened in the action with force as King Marke: with his carrying bass, however, his singing sometimes seemed somewhat rigid and stentorian.

The event par excellence was Susannah Haberfeld's performance as Brangäne, a role that is tailor-made for the mezzo-soprano. She sang her part with a carrying legato arch and soft-sounding depth, with the admonishing "Habet Acht" as the climax. Here, one would have wished that arranger Rushton had shortened it a little less in order to listen to this wonderful voice for longer.

The audience, the majority of whom were Wagnerians and had even traveled from Freiburg im Breisgau and Vorarlberg, applauded enthusiastically. In contrast to this insider event, however, the Society's statutes stipulate "to make the work of Richard Wagner accessible to a large audience". The Wagner Society pursues an opening, forward-looking aspect through its scholarship system.

Since 1882, the international Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation has been awarding grants to talented singers, musicians or other stage performers who are considered for the Bayreuth Festival. The scholarships include a free visit to the Festival, a concert at which the scholarship holders demonstrate their skills and attendance at introductory lectures. International winners in the past have included Christian Thielemann, Waltraud Meier, Michael Volle and Anja Kampe, to name but a few.

In 2013, the Swiss Society joined this award and announces the scholarship annually at the music academies. There can also be recommendations. One of the first winners was the pianist Andrea Wiesli, who visited Bayreuth in 2013: "I was very impressed by this historic venue with its special acoustics," she says. "I regularly perform a recital with a former fellow scholarship holder, the mezzo-soprano Stephanie Szanto from Bern, and I am also invited to give recitals on Wagner's Erard grand piano in Tribschen."

Last year, Serafin Heusser, who was recommended by his lecturer Peter Brechbühler, was one of the scholarship holders. He also raves: "Attending the performances and the guided tour of the Festspielhaus was a unique and very interesting experience for me! In other opera houses, I always had the feeling during Wagner performances that the singers had to fight against the orchestra and could never sing piano. So it was all the better for me that Michael Volle, for example, was able to sing beautiful mezza voce notes thanks to the brilliant acoustics."

This year's selection of winners, who will give their scholarship concert at Schlössli Wartegg in Lucerne on May 26, shows just how meaningful this scholarship is. Violinist Lisa Rieder will perform Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, accompanied by Luka Hauser. Hauser will also interpret Scriabin's 4th Piano Sonata, peppered with Tristan chords, and accompany the tenor Omar Kobiljak. The latter recently performed successfully at Zurich Opera House as Steuermann in Wagner's Dutchman stepped in.

Performers at the next scholarship holders' concert (from left): Lisa Rieder, Luka Hauser, Omar Kobiljak. Photo: zVg

In 2018, Leipzig is celebrating a double anniversary: the Gewandhaus Orchestra, founded and financed by 16 young, free-spirited merchants in 1743, is 275 years old and the Conservatory, co-founded by Gewandhaus conductor Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in 1843, is 175 years old. As one of the first of its kind, the Leipzig Conservatory attracted talented artists from all over Europe, especially from Switzerland.

The local music scene, which only gradually awoke in the middle of the 19th century, would be hard to imagine without the music city of Leipzig. Formative Swiss musical personalities such as Friedrich Hegar and Hans Huber studied there. In this country, there was neither a courtly musical life nor generally accessible training opportunities for musicians. Hans Georg Nägeli had established the first public educational institution for talented musicians with his Singinstitut in Zurich in 1805. But those who wanted to make music their profession went to Leipzig.

Interestingly, the first music student in Leipzig was Theodor Kirchner (1823-1903) from the Ore Mountains, who came to Winterthur a short time later on Mendelssohn's recommendation to take up the post of organist at the town church. Kirchner made the German Romantics known in Switzerland. He gave concerts himself in Winterthur and Zurich, worked as a music teacher and from 1862 was conductor of the subscription concerts of the Allgemeine Musik-Gesellschaft AMG Zurich.

Kirchner became friends with the young Johannes Brahms, whose music he actively promoted in Switzerland. He was also in close contact with Friedrich Hegar (1841-1927), the son of a German music teacher and piano dealer who had matured into a musician in Basel. Hegar also studied composition at the Leipzig Conservatory in the late 1850s and came to Zurich in 1863 at Kirchner's instigation as Kapellmeister of the Orchesterverein.

Friedrich Hegar built up Zurich's musical life on several levels: He not only conducted the Tonhalle Orchestra, but also worked as a conductor at the theater. He conducted several choirs, including the mixed choir, and was involved in the AMG. Thanks to Hegar and Kirchner, Johannes Brahms regularly came to the Tonhalle. Hegar also initiated the founding of a conservatory in Zurich in 1875, which he ran as director until 1914.

The bourgeois concert scene was also active in Basel, where Clara Schumann, for example, gave regular concerts. In 1857, violinist Louis Abel (1835-1895) from Thuringia came to the city as concertmaster and principal violinist. He had previously studied violin in Leipzig with Ferdinand David, the concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Abel was also a gifted pedagogue and from 1860 to 1866 taught at the violin school founded by the Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft, the predecessor of the music school founded in Basel in 1867.

Eusebius Kaeslin (1835-1889), a native of St. Gallen, built up a lively concert life in Aarau. Before he went to Leipzig to study in 1854, he was taught by the St. Gallen collegiate organist. In Leipzig, he studied violin with Ferdinand David before becoming concertmaster of the Musikkollegium Winterthur.

In 1862, Kaeslin became organist at the Catholic church in Aarau and taught violin and piano at the music school, which he fundamentally reorganized in 1879. He developed his concert activities as conductor of the Aarau Cäcilienverein for many years. Thanks to his good contacts with the German music scene, he organized excellent concerts that attracted attention far beyond the canton's borders.

Karl Munzinger (1842-1911) from Solothurn, August Werner (1841-1900) from Geneva and Gustav Weber (1845-1887) from Bern formed a veritable Swiss clique at the Leipzig Conservatory. They met during their years of study together there from 1860 to 1863 and became lifelong friends. Karl Munzinger later left his mark on the entire musical life of Bern - as director of the Liedertafel, and from 1884 as conductor of the subscription concerts of the Musikgesellschaft and the Cäcilienverein.

At this time, the conductor and composer Carl Reinecke was a sought-after composition and piano teacher at the Leipzig Conservatory. He had been personally sponsored by Mendelssohn. Reinecke's large group of students included famous names such as Max Bruch, Edvard Grieg, Hugo Riemann, Ethel Smyth and Felix Weingartner, who later also worked in Basel as a famous conductor and conservatory director.

Reinecke was appointed Gewandhaus Kapellmeister in 1859 and as such was responsible for a rather conservative, classicist style of interpretation that was still strongly indebted to Mendelssohn and Schumann until 1895. As a composer, too, he was unmistakably oriented towards Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms.

The Geneva pianist August Werner was particularly encouraged by Reinecke; he was even his private pupil and performed as a pianist at the Gewandhaus in 1863. Back in Switzerland, Werner worked at the Geneva Conservatory and on the committee of the subscription concerts. Gustav Weber, for his part, made his career mainly in Zurich as director of the men's choir and the mixed choir and as a versatile organist at the Grossmünster.

The composer, pianist and conductor Hans Huber (1852-1921) played a decisive role in the flourishing of Basel's musical life at the end of the 19th century. Huber studied with Carl Reinecke in Leipzig from 1870 to 74 and became a piano teacher at the Basel General Music School, which he directed from 1896. As a respected composer with patriotic sentiments, he worked with Friedrich Hegar to found the Swiss Musicians' Association in 1900.

Huber also endeavored to improve the quality of professional musical training and founded the conservatory in Basel in 1905. His famous pupil Hermann Suter (1870-1926) also studied with the now very elderly Carl Reinecke in Leipzig, after which he worked as a choirmaster and conductor of the AMG symphony concerts in Basel. He also became one of the leading Swiss composers at the turn of the 20th century.

Sibylle Ehrismann
... is co-responsible for the artes-projekte, co-curator of the Gewandhaus anniversary exhibition 2018 "27,5 Köpfe erzählen die Gewandhausgeschichte".

According to its press release, the ZHdK worked at various levels in 2017 to optimize its teaching and research for the future: Research and teaching are better connected and designed for the future, and even more attractive doctoral programs have been created in partnership with doctoral-granting universities.

The ZHdK has implemented a new model to promote university-wide learning. This enables students to take modules with an overarching concept and to attend courses in a "foreign" department. The new specialization in Sound Design, which will start in the 2018/19 autumn semester, is an example of this: a broad and individually expandable range of subjects takes into account the heterogeneous environment of sound for film, interactive media and video games. Further concepts and measures to individualize the course and increase its permeability are being planned, according to the ZHdK press release.

The ZHdK reached a milestone for the promotion of young talent in April 2017: four of its five applications for project-related contributions from the federal government for doctoral programs with partner universities entitled to award doctorates were approved. The ZHdK is cooperating with the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design, the University of Reading and the University of Art and Design Linz. A further program is being carried out jointly with ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. The federal government is funding the ZHdK's programs with a total of 1.5 million Swiss francs.

The ZHdK set up a Digital Council in 2017 to bundle digitalization topics. It provides strategic advice to the university management in the area of digital change and coordinates the implementation of measures. The ZHdK also took part in Switzerland's first Digital Day. The involvement in the Digital Day will continue in 2018.

PDF of the annual report:
https://www.zhdk.ch/file/live/8c/8ccc82364db19a3900ce2c68c1bf8312d6c26283/20180305_jahresbericht_zhdk_2017.pdf

Winterthur's libraries are constantly expanding their online offering. In addition to e-books and databases, they now offer the streaming platform "Freegal". "Freegal" comprises the catalog of "Sony Music" including sub-labels. 13 million songs from 220 genres and 80 countries are available, and the platform also offers music videos and audio books in English in addition to music.

No specific software is required to use it. The service is available via a conventional browser via winterthur.freegalmusic.comvia the link on the page www.ewinbib.ch/ -> Freegal or via the "Freegal" app for iOS and Android.

After registering with a user number and password, customers of Winterthur's libraries who have an active library card can stream three hours a day free of charge. As a bonus, there are up to three songs per week that are free of copy protection and can be used forever.

Many other libraries in Switzerland also offer their users similar services.

The budget for the new building is around 10 million francs, a large part of which has already been financed by private donors and patrons - but half a million francs is still needed. The fundraising target of half a million francs would set a new Swiss record for crowdfunding in the cultural sector.

The construction of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra's own rehearsal house is a key strategic objective of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra Foundation. This goal is of great importance both artistically and logistically. The orchestra's home is to become a working and creative center with rehearsal facilities for the musicians and a child- and family-friendly environment for the education programs.

If at least the so-called funding threshold of 250,000 francs is reached by June 12, the musicians will redeem a wager: they will invite the supporters to a joint sausage dinner. All supporters who donate at least 50 francs will take part in the draw for the limited places.

More info: www.funders.ch/projekte/probenhaus
 

Professional music-making is high-performance sport and muscle play. In her sound and video installation Quartet. Bodies in Performance Katharina Rosenberger, born in Zurich in 1971, shows the bare backs of four musicians. Shoulder blades move, tendons protrude, as do strong muscles, trained over decades of practicing. Rosenberger did not compose a closed quartet for her installation, but loosely arranged solo pieces for piano, percussion, accordion and double bass. She is experienced enough in multimedia to know that the visual and audible should meaningfully cross-fertilize each other and not be dominated by sound or visuals. She also did well not to synchronize the videos directly with the music. This increases the viewer's attention. There is room to think further, to ponder, to reflect.

Rosenberger's focus on performers fits in well with the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. The annual festival always impresses with outstanding musical performances. This time, the experienced new music specialists were joined by the furious piano duo Grau/Schumacher and the young musicians of Trio Catch. Alternating with the pianists, the trio intoned a obsessive compulsive music by the young Brazilian Ricardo Eizirik, who lives in Zurich. He has the trio repeat short, rhythmically concise motifs ostinato. Boglárca Pecze (clarinet), Eva Boesch (cello) and Sun-Young Nam (piano) master the delicate rhythms of an inspired piece with incredible precision. No less convincing is the interpretation of Rosenberger's trio surge. The thinned-out sound is always transparent here, and the general pauses of another very impressive work are set full of suspense, for which one wishes many more performances after the Witten premiere.

It is usually difficult to sum up a new music festival with more than 20 world premieres. In Witten this time, there were no ups and downs, no - at times laborious - alternation between experimental failures, the routine and the conciliatory and impressive. Thanks to outstanding performers, but also thanks to almost consistently exceptionally inspired composers, the cleverly programmed festival director Harry Vogt achieved a great success. The intensity of the 35-minute Epigram I-IIIwritten by French composer Franck Bedrossian for soprano Donatienne Michel-Dansac and Klangforum Wien. Michel-Dansac sings texts by the American author Emily Dickinson. She traces the content of the texts with equal flexibility and color, while the ensemble sometimes serves as an "echo chamber", sometimes as a ravenous commentator, sometimes as a partner to the soprano, who nestles into the sound and at times merges with the singing. Bedrossian pulls out all the stops in his computer-assisted composition. He knows how to orchestrate with virtuosity and has a pronounced sense of dramaturgy. At no point in the work does he let the reins slip. It is all essence, dense and concentrated.

Further highlights come from Mark André, Johannes Maria Staud and Georg Friedrich Haas. In keeping with his personal style, he once again presents sound mixtures that only he seems to be able to achieve. Violent piano clusters mingle in the trio Flower meadow I-III with the multifonts of saxophonist Marcus Weiss and the percussive accents of percussionist Christian Dierstein. Mark André and the Austrian Johannes Maria Staud pursue similarly subtle sound work. In Mark André's world premiere ...blessed are... spaces of disappearance there is a rare encounter between live electronics and a clarinet. Jörg Widmann roams the rooms of the Märkisches Museum in Witten with his instrument. Only the end resounds - ritually, even religiously charged - in the midst of the audience. Thanks in part to the SWR experimental studio, the close interlocking of instrumental notes with the digital spheres from the loudspeakers is particularly fascinating. In the light II is what Staud calls his duo for two pianos. It is a kind of self-exploration, as he looks back on an orchestral work that is around ten years old. What he has "gained" or "lost" over the course of time - that is what he wanted to trace in this expressive work. In the end, the Witten visitor also won, rewarded by an exceptional vintage that offered nuances of taste in all forms.