According to the representative study "Parents/Children/Cultural Education. Horizon 2017", conducted by the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research (IfD) on behalf of the German Council for Cultural Education, over ninety percent of parents say that cultural education promotes their children's development. Joint cultural activities are seen as a central building block for family cohesion.

However, parents with an intermediate or lower level of education are significantly less confident than academics in their ability to support their children - musically or artistically, for example. Only a quarter of them are fully convinced that they can help their children sufficiently in these areas.

However, this does not mean that these parents are more interested in their children taking part in guided cultural activities outside of nursery and school; on the contrary, mothers and fathers with lower educational qualifications are less interested than average. As a result, their children in Germany are also less likely to have taken part in such activities in the last twelve months: Only 37 percent of them confirm this, compared to 59 percent among fathers and mothers with a degree.

Download the study:
http://www.rat-kulturelle-bildung.de/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/RFKB_Eltern_Kinder_Kulturelle_Bildung_Web_FINAL.pdf

The ZHdK awards the honorary titles "Honorary Companion" for many years of service and "Companion" for outstanding achievements at a young age to personalities "who have rendered outstanding services to the interests of the university or have already achieved extraordinary things at a young age".

The first "Companion" will be awarded by the ZHdK as part of its University Day, which is being held under the motto "Leadership in the Arts". It honors the conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, who was appointed chief conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra last year at the age of not yet thirty. She completed her conducting studies at the ZHdK in 2015 under conductor and lecturer Johannes Schlaefli.

A maximum of one "Companion" and one "Honorary Companion" will be awarded each year. According to Rector Thomas D. Meier, the ZHdK intends to award the first Honorary Companion in 2018.
 

Peter Sigrist comes from a family of musicians. His father was a teacher and organist and his mother's father also practiced this profession. Peter grew up with four siblings in the Maihof district of Lucerne. His father was responsible for playing the organ at the church there and conducted the church choir, a male choir, as was customary in the church at the time. One day, he called his son into the study and practiced the part of the solo soprano with him. Eventually, the nine-year-old took over this part in the choir. This was repeated until he was twelve years old, when the boy decided to stop singing in public. He feared that his voice would no longer hold up.

After his compulsory schooling, Peter attended the teacher training college and took organ lessons at the church music school with Josef Bucher. At the age of twenty, he taught at the comprehensive school in Ebnet, then as a teacher and organist in Ettiswil, a village with a wonderful baroque church, and later also in Dagmersellen. In addition to teaching, he enrolled at what was then the church music school and continued his training as an organist, conductor and singer. "I did it purely out of a love of music and because I wanted to improve myself. I had no idea what my career would be like."
 

In addition to teaching and studying music, Peter Sigrist performs as a lyric tenor wherever he is asked. At the age of 22, he sings the arias from J. S. Bach's St. John Passion after only a short preparation time. "That must never happen to you again," he says to himself. He resolves to only perform well-prepared at concerts in future. During this time, he also practices on the organ for four hours a day.

At the age of 27, he passes his organ diploma with top marks. He now teaches at the Lucerne Teachers' College (music and organ). He also takes singing lessons and voice training methodology at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. He receives more and more engagements as a singer in all the major cities in Switzerland and also abroad. He often sings with his second wife, the soprano Rosmarie Hofmann, and founds the vocal quartet musica sacra.

In 1972, he founded the choir of the Lucerne Cantonal Teachers' College: When his first class graduated, they wanted to continue singing in the choir. From then on, rehearsals took place outside of school hours, every Tuesday from 6 pm. This is still the case today. Only the name has been changed: It has been called the Lucerne Concert Choir since 2001. Initially there were around fifty singers, but then the choir became better known and performed great works such as Le Laudi by Hermann Suter, Gloria and Stabat Mater by Francis Poulenc, St. Paul and Elias by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. More and more people showed interest and wanted to join in. Today, the choir has 110 members. From 1982 to 2014, Peter Sigrist also conducted the Zurich Young Concert Choir and was a frequent guest conductor in Germany.
 

Peter Sigrist retired at the age of sixty and now works as a freelance singer and conductor. As a choir conductor, he likes to keep at it, be it in terms of intonation, language or dynamics. He can inspire. "I do everything I can to motivate the singers. But if a concert is to be a success, it means hard work: practicing, repeating and rehearsing again and again." It is the progress that fascinates him. "Amateurs sing cautiously at first, but when they are confident, their souls suddenly open up. It's incredibly beautiful."

Peter Sigrist will conduct Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Symphony No. 2 (Lobgesang) with the Lucerne Concert Choir on November 12, 2017 at the KKL. It was his wish to perform this work with the baroque orchestra Capriccio. He is not finding it difficult to say goodbye to the concert choir, says the conductor with conviction. He had been preparing for it for two years. Then he adds cautiously: "We'll see what it looks like after the last concert." His music-making will then be limited to playing the piano. "I want to enjoy my newfound freedom. I've always been committed my whole life. Now I want to be free."
 

The culture card was presented at a media conference in the Klavierwerkstatt Liestal. Government Councillor Monica Gschwind, Head of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport, explained that culture in Basel-Landschaft consists of a number of institutions that are well-known to the general public, but also of a sea of countless smaller, lesser-known cultural players.

It is precisely this versatility that can now be experienced in the new online portal with 560 entries to date. The project was made possible thanks to the collaboration between kulturelles.bl and Baselland Tourismus.

More info: www.kulturkarte-bl.ch

In addition to Josep Planells Schiaffino (28), the British-Chinese composer Jamie Man (30) and Feliz Anne Reyes Macahis (30) from the Philippines are the winners of the competition. The jury, chaired by composer Detlef Glanert, selected them for the scholarship to compose new music theater works.

From 2006 to 2010, Josep Planells Schiaffino studied clarinet with José Cerveró at the Conservatorio Superior de Música in his native city of Valencia, graduating with a diploma. From 2010 to 2014, he studied composition with Arnulf Herrmann at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, where he completed his master's degree with Hanspeter Kyburz.

In 2017, he took part in master classes in conducting at the Lucerne Festival Academy with Heinz Holliger and Matthias Pintscher, and in 2015 and 2016 also with Peter Eötvös, Helmut Lachenmann and Peter Rundel. Josep Planells has already received numerous awards and commissions, including for Les Vents Français and Eric Le Sage as well as the Roche Young Commissions 2019 of the Lucerne Festival. He gained his first musical theater experience with Franck Ollu at the Theater Basel and at the Staatsoper Berlin with Wolfgang Rihm's Jakob Lenz.

Christoph Simon was born in Langnau im Emmental in 1972. He initially graduated from the Swiss Jazz School in Bern. He became Swiss Poetry Slam Champion twice in a row in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, he won the "Sprungfeder" award at the Olten Cabaret Days, and from 2018 he will be touring Switzerland and Germany with his third solo program "Der Richtige für fast alles". He has now also published five novels, children's books and poems.

The Salzburger Stier, endowed with 6000 euros each, is the most prestigious cabaret prize in the German-speaking world. It was awarded for the first time in 1982. The prize is backed by the public radio stations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Tyrol, which have joined together to form a radio association. The Swiss jury unanimously declared Simon the winner.

Pezzotti graduated with distinction from the Zurich Conservatory with Claude Starck in 1981. In the field of classical music, he has a busy international concert schedule as a soloist and chamber musician. From 1986 he was a member of the Zurich Opera Orchestra. He was also active as a jazz musician.

As a friend of the Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, he performed with Pascoal's group in Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Florence, Geneva and Zurich in 1992. This joint work developed into a duo with Carlos Malta, the flautist and saxophonist from Pascoal's group. He has also recorded several times with Andreas Vollenweider and Thierry Lang. In Rio de Janeiro, Pezzotti is a guest lecturer at the International Cello Encounter. He teaches cello at the Zurich University of the Arts.
 

According to a statement from the canton of Uri, Jonny Gisler has played an important role in the Central Swiss folk music scene for decades. He is comparable to the late Otto Truttmann, whose virtuoso recorder playing became famous throughout Switzerland. Jonny Gisler's harmonious compositions, reminiscent of his role model Albert Hagen, find a large audience far beyond the canton of Uri. His humorous character, his modesty and his great musical ability explain his success.

Jonny Gisler has supported the initiatives of the House of Folk Music in Altdorf since its foundation. He has performed prominently at the Alpentöne and the Altdorf Folk Music Festival. With challenging pieces and his melodious, delicate playing style, he has shaped the new dynamic in Swiss folk music.

The "Golden Uristier" badge of honor was awarded for the first time on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Uri Art and Culture Foundation in 2011. It is awarded to personalities or institutions who have created a lasting work and have rendered outstanding services to cultural life in Uri.

Born in Bern in 1924, Huber studied violin with Stefi Geyer and composition with Willy Burkhard and Boris Blacher. From 1964 to 1973, he led the composition class at the Basel Academy of Music. In 1969 he founded the International Composers' Seminar in Boswil and from 1973 to 1990 he was head of the composition class and the Institute for New Music at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg/Breisgau.

His students included Brian Ferneyhough and Hans Wüthrich in Basel, Wolfgang Rihm, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Toshio Hosokawa, Michael Jarrell, Günter Steinke, Dieter Mack, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Johannes Schöllhorn, Richard Nikolaus Wenzel and a handful of other now renowned composers.

On the website klaushuber.com, Brian Ferneyhough praises Huber's work as being rooted in both medieval and serial compositional practice. Unlike some of his contemporaries, however, he has avoided "being pinned down to a marketable collection of stylistic characteristics, because each of his works is a highly individual response to a clearly focused and technically precise set of circumstances and at the same time a precise, constantly renewed reflection on the relationship of contemporary musical languages to the real, imperfect world in which they are embedded."

From 1979 to 1982, Huber was President of the Swiss Association of Musicians. In addition to countless other important prizes, Huber was also awarded the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2009.
 

On September 29, the Association of German Music Schools (VdM), together with the Federal Youth Ministry, awarded the Media Prize for Good Music for Children for the eleventh time at the WDR Funkhaus in Cologne. A jury of experts had previously selected 15 music recordings from over 150 applications for the list of recommendations. Four productions have now been awarded the coveted Leopold Media Prize, the VdM's seal of quality for particularly "good music for children".

The Leopold was presented by VdM Chairman Ulrich Rademacher and the State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Ralf Kleindiek. Rademacher said: "From the very beginning, the idea behind the Leopold Media Prize was to bring even more 'good music' into families and thus make music accessible to children as early as possible as a lifelong asset. In the current, eleventh competition cycle, producers and publishers, composers and artists have once again convinced and inspired us with their ideas, their commitment to the cause and the quality of their productions. We hope that this enthusiasm is infectious and has an impact."

The Leopold Media Prize has been awarded every two years by the Verband deutscher since 1997. It is considered one of the most important German awards for children's music media.

The winners:

The orchestra mice - A musical fairy tale
From 5 years; Hug & Co. Music Publishers, Zurich

Born in 1989, Roswitha Gobbo is a graduate of the Zurich University of the Arts and works with very different media, combining them in ever new ways. Klanglandschaften is a blog (klanglandschaften.wordpress.com), which regularly publishes recordings of soundscapes from South America. They consist of "acoustic phenomena that occur in one place". These can be natural sounds, speech, work and machine noise as well as music.

Since 2000, the Innerrhoden Art Foundation has been awarding work grants at irregular intervals to promote contemporary art. At its meeting on September 18, 2017, the Board of Trustees unanimously decided to award this year's work grant of CHF 10,000 to Roswitha Gobbo, Appenzell. The prize will be awarded on November 18.

Two of the five projects are cross-cantonal: The four-year pilot project "Book and Literature East+", which is supported by all the cantons of Eastern Switzerland, and the juried exhibition "Heimspiel", which takes place every three years. The other sponsored projects are "Unter Artgenossen" by Kathrin Bosshard's Theater Fleisch + Pappe and Philipp Langenegger's musical reading entitled "Vo Heeme" about Jakob Hartmann, one of the most important Appenzell dialect poets.

In the first half of the year, the canton's Department of Education and Culture also awarded a total of CHF 114,376 to 52 applications. The supported projects are listed in the cantonal cultural journal Obacht Kultur No. 28.

Musically overstretched teachers no longer sing or make music with the children or there are no music lessons at all, the Council explains further. The current education policy debate focuses far too much on the Pisa subjects (reading, mathematics, science). However, the artistic and creative subjects also impart indispensable skills such as creativity, social interaction and creative ability.

The ÖMR calls for a qualitative and quantitative safeguarding of music lessons, the realization of a flexible subject teacher principle for musical-artistic subjects at elementary school, the expansion of music lessons in elementary school to two hours per week, the expansion of cooperation between schools and music schools and the establishment of a music education coordination office in the Ministry of Education.
 

The city of Chur supports cultural projects related to the city. This could be a radio play, short films, reading evenings or a book of poetry. Anyone who launches a crowdfunding campaign on wemakeit and reaches 33% of the funding target will receive the second third (maximum CHF 3,000) from the city of Chur.

The final third must again be raised via the crowd. Romansh projects are additionally supported by the Lia Rumantscha with CHF 1000. The Lia Rumantscha promotes and supports the Romansh language and culture throughout Switzerland.

Wemakeit and the city of Chur are inviting all interested cultural professionals to an information event on the project. It will take place on Thursday, November 9, 2017, at 5 p.m. in the Municipal Council Chamber at Chur Town Hall, Poststrasse 33. Registrations must be sent by Tuesday, November 7, 2017, to caroline.morand@chur.ch or by telephone on 081 254 44 10.

According to the canton, Carena Schlewitt "as a personality has had a unifying and integrative effect with the Kaserne Basel on the barracks site and in the city". She achieved the establishment of a nationally recognized independent theater and dance scene and the preservation of the Kaserne Basel as the most important concert hall for popular music in north-western Switzerland, as well as positioning the Basel Theatre Festival as an important international festival in Switzerland.

Carena Schlewitt, born in Leipzig, studied theater studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin and worked at the Academy of Arts in East Berlin and at Podewil as well as at the Theater der Welt festival in Berlin. She worked as a dramaturge and deputy artistic director at the Forum Freies Theater Düsseldorf and as a theater curator and deputy artistic director at the Theater Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin. In 2018, she will take over the directorship of Hellerau - European Center for the Arts Dresden.

The Basel Culture Prize will be awarded for the 45th time this year. The jury for the 2017 award is made up of Peter Bläuer, Director of Liste Art Fair Basel; Vadim Jendreyko, filmmaker and producer; Marc Krebs, Culture Editor, bz Basellandschaftliche Zeitung; Ellinor Landmann, Art and Society Editor, Radio SRF2Kultur; Felix Meyer, Director, Paul Sacher Foundation; Manuela Waeber, freelance editor, Jeannette Voirol, Head of Cultural Institutions, Department of Culture (Chair).