The singer Rea Dubach is awarded the "Coup de cœur". The "Coup de cœur" is awarded by the canton in recognition of special musical achievements and also as a prize to promote young talent and as a performance opportunity for young Bernese musicians.

Every year, the cantonal music commission awards four music prizes of the Canton of Bern "as a sign of appreciation and recognition for the musical work of outstanding musicians". Professional musicians from all artistic and administrative areas of musical life and all musical styles can be honored. A prerequisite is many years of work in the Canton of Berne.

The Music Commission consists of Valérie Portmann (President ), Antonio Garcia, Manuel Gnos, Gilles Grimaître (delegate of the Francophone Commission for General Cultural Issues), Matthias Hügli, Cécile Olshausen and Bjørn Schaeffner. The award ceremony will take place together with the presentation of the Bern Film Prize on Tuesday, November 14, 2017, 7.30 pm, in the Great Hall of the Reitschule Bern.

As the Danioth Foundation was repeatedly misunderstood as a funding foundation, the name of the well-known Uri artist was dropped in last year's reorganization. According to the canton's press release, the Uri Art and Culture Foundation is funded entirely from public lottery fund contributions. The four-year continuation period will last until the end of 2019.

According to the new guidelines, the jury is also free to award a Uri Year of Work with 20,000 francs, the highest award. The grants amount to between 4000 and 10,000 francs and recognize previous achievements. Purchases of works or project contributions range from CHF 2000 to CHF 6000. A work year or studio in Uri can only be awarded once.

Application documents: For artists (visual arts, music, literature, dance, theater, film, photography and new media) who live in Uri or have lived there for eight years www.ur.ch (Search term: Art and Culture Foundation)
 

Furrer's work will have its world premiere on August 20, 2017 (repeat: August 27) On their two-day pilgrimage "La Via Lattea", the participants will follow Orpheus' footsteps to the underworld with music from the 15th to the 21st century.

The disused cement gallery in the geological park is one of the unusual performance venues. Furrer's vocal sextet with the text of the Bacchante Chorus from Alessandro Striggio's Orpheus libretto will be heard for the first time on this hike: It is the text to which Claudio Monteverdi's music from his opera "L'Orfeo" has been lost. The ensemble Vox Àltera presents this event under the direction of Massimiliano Pascucci.

More info: www.teatrodeltempo.ch

According to the city's press release, the concert evening with the two bands Ursina and Brandy Butler & The Brokenhearted on July 29 at the Bäckeranlage was the best attended. Another four concerts with the Zurich bands Cowboys from Hell, Elina Duni, Linda Vogel, Trio Heinz Herbert, Zayk, J&L Defer, Cristallin and Odd Beholder took place in the best open-air weather at Platzspitz, Sihlhölzli Park, Turbinenplatz and in front of the Helsinkiklub.

The Stadtsommer concert series, organized by the Culture Department, has been taking place every July and August since 1998. It is an instrument for promoting talented young musicians and bands from Zurich.

The city summer was held annually until 2015, but was not held in 2016. As an alternative, the Jazz/Rock/Pop department of the Culture Division organized the "Züri Hornt (vis-à-vis)" concert day last year in collaboration with Zürcher Theater Spektakel. A city summer concert series is to be held again in summer 2018, as was the case this year.
 

Across all age groups, those who listen to music online exclusively or for the most part and those who only listen to music on traditional players are in balance, each accounting for around a quarter of respondents.

Streaming services are used most intensively by men: 53% of them listen to music online (women 47%), 34% watch films (women 30%) and 27% play games online (women 25%). Only eBooks are used more frequently by women: 21% also read books online, compared to just 16% of men. The survey was conducted in spring 2017.

Users would spend an average of 7.20 euros on music. According to Ernst & Young, even those who do not yet use streaming services but are interested in principle show a high willingness to pay. These current non-users would pay an average of 8.30 euros for films and series and 6 euros for music.

Spotify dominates the paid music streaming market in Germany, well ahead of its competitors. Of those who use paid music streaming services, almost half (49%) access the service from Sweden. Amazon Music is in second place with a market share of 21 percent. The third-largest provider is Apple with a market share of 11 percent. Apple is particularly popular with women, 19% of whom access the company's service.

The film tells the story of the Swiss travel journalist Katharina von Arx (1928-2013) and the French photographer Freddy Drilhon (1926-1976) in both documentary and fictional sequences. Balz Bachmann's music was created in parallel with the film editing and combines the multi-layered elements into a whole. The two co-composers Michael Künstle and Peter Bräker were also significantly involved in the development of the musical themes.

The Fondation Suisa Film Music Prize is endowed with CHF 25,000 and honors "exceptional work in the field of Swiss film music composition". It is awarded annually, alternating between the feature film and documentary film categories.
This year's jury consisted of Mario Beretta (president), composer, conductor, Zurich; Pierre Funck, composer, lecturer, president of Forum Filmmusik, Zurich; Zeno Gabaglio, composer, journalist, member of the board of trustees of the Fondation Suisa, Vacallo (TI); Duscha Kistler, former artistic director of Fantoche, member of the commission for animated film at the Federal Office of Culture, Bern.

The Karl Böhm Collection includes books and music - particularly noteworthy are the study scores with Böhm's annotations and notes. The objects also include life documents, contracts and correspondence, for example with Deutsche Grammophon and the Salzburg Festival.

Karl Böhm's notebooks and diaries document his impressive workload. The collection also includes numerous prizes, honors, awards, orders and medals with the corresponding documents and certificates, batons and even his tailcoat.

Philippe Jordan, born in Zurich in 1974, is music director at the Opéra national de Paris and chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, according to a statement from the Vienna State Opera. He began his career at the age of 20 as Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater Ulm. In 1998, he moved to the Berlin Lindenoper as assistant to Daniel Barenboim and Kapellmeister, and from 2001 to 2004 he was chief conductor of the Graz Opera.

From 2006 to 2010, Philippe Jordan returned to Berlin as Principal Guest Conductor at the Staatsoper unter den Linden. From 2009, he took over the musical direction of the Paris Opera and in 2014, he became Principal Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

In the planning for the first two seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22, the new State Opera Director Bogdan Roščić and Philippe Jordan have already determined the Music Director's premiere conductorships. However, together with the orchestra, the chorus, the ensemble and the other musical and artistic groups of the house, the focus will be just as strongly on the repertoire operations that determine the daily life of the Vienna State Opera.

The "Kultur inklusiv" label promotes "a holistic inclusive approach by more and more cultural institutions that, as label holders, are embarking on the path to natural accessibility and participation". Supporters are inclusive cultural institutions of all cultural sectors, sizes and profiles from all over Switzerland, which ensure that their cultural offerings are as barrier-free as possible and that all interested people, including people with disabilities, are able to participate in culture.

From the 2017/18 season, Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn (TOBS) will be implementing a holistically inclusive approach with targeted focal points in all four disciplines: Theater performances interpreted and surtitled in sign language, audio-described opera performances and open dress rehearsals as a low-threshold concert format are examples of the new inclusive offerings. In addition, TOBS will involve those affected in an advisory capacity via a support group.

With its annual festival themes, which include an examination of sensory perception, its possibilities and its limitations, the Bern Music Festival is embarking on its specific inclusive path from 2017. Music formats that appeal to several senses, an inclusive music education project and several barrier-free venues are also intended to appeal to music lovers with visual, hearing and mobility impairments.

Website: www.kulturinklusiv.ch

MusicTech Germany is committed to promoting innovation and new business models and aims to use its own formats to drive forward the development and dissemination of music technologies in Germany and beyond in order to "strengthen the location for companies and talents from this sector in the long term and sustainably".

The founding members of the association are experts from industry and research, providers of music hardware and software, artists, freelance developers and designers as well as service providers. One of the founding members is the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

According to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the field of application of music technologies has long since ceased to be limited to the music industry; they are also finding their way into other vertical sectors such as the games and film industry, the education sector and the healthcare industry. Membership of MusicTech Germany is the right move for them, as a strong and interdisciplinary network is needed in Germany to ensure that they don't miss out internationally.

Trauffer is represented with two albums (including "Alpentainer"), the Schwiizergoofe with three (4, "Früelig & Summer" and 5). Bligg and Schlunegger's Heimweh are also in the top ten.

According to BAK statistics, almost 20 percent of Swiss people sing, 17 percent make music and 9 percent dance. Around 95 percent listen to music privately, 70 percent go to concerts. Classical music concerts are most popular in German-speaking Switzerland, chanson concerts in French-speaking Switzerland and jazz, funk and country concerts in Italian-speaking Switzerland.

The majority of the Swiss population listen to chansons and singer-songwriters, including dialect rock and variety or pop music (around 7 in 10 people), closely followed by pop/rock and world music (each with around 65%) and jazz, funk or country (just over 60%). Classical music (including opera) is listened to by around half of the population - exactly the same proportion as techno, house, rap or hip-hop. Four out of ten people listen to Swiss folk and brass band music privately.

When it comes to private music listening, there are striking age differences in the use of the media: people between 30 and 74 years of age are more likely to listen to music on the radio, CDs are more common among middle-aged people, while listening to music via the Internet, a computer, MP3 player or cell phone is very common among younger people. Records and cassettes are mainly used by older people - 4 out of 10 respondents aged 75 and over do so.

Born in Interlaken in 1945, Polo Hofer's real name was Urs Hofer. At the beginning of the 1970s, he played a key role in the emergence of dialect rock with the group Rumpelstilz and from 1984 to 2003 with the Schmetterband. Since 1976, he has received 15 gold and 8 platinum awards for particularly successful recordings. Hofer has won the Prix Walo, the highest honor in Swiss show business, three times.

Hofer, who also trained as a typographer, showed his special talent as a translator of successful English songs, such as Bob Dylan's songs or the classic "Son of a Preacher Man" with Valais singer Sina. A square in Interlaken is named after him and his colleague Hanery Amman. 

The 2013-2017 cultural mission statement is a comprehensive inventory of culture in the canton of Basel-Landschaft and sets out the objectives for cultural policy. With the 2016 Cultural Promotion Act and the associated ordinance, cantonal cultural promotion has been given a contemporary legal basis.

Before the development of the sixth cultural mission statement can begin, the canton writes, the cultural partnership with the canton of Basel-Stadt must be clarified. The results of these partnership negotiations form the basis for updating and supplementing the current mission statement.

Work on the new cultural mission statement is expected to start in June 2018 and "will be accompanied by a participatory process". The diverse interests of a wide range of stakeholders are to be taken into account, the canton writes further. A survey of cultural institutions and interest groups as well as a series of working meetings in all regions of the Basel region are planned.

Photo (from left to right): Government Councillor Dr. Anton Lauber, Vice President of the Government Monica Gschwind, President of the Government Dr. Sabine Pegoraro, Government Councillor Isaac Reber, Government Councillor Thomas Weber, Land Clerk Dr. Peter Vetter.
 

According to the Rendez-vous am Mittag program on Radio SRF 1, a retired man's application to train as a youth+music director of choir camps has been rejected. The person concerned had been certified as having a high level of professional competence. Nevertheless, the licensing authority rejected the application, citing his age as the reason.

According to the Federal Administrative Court, the decision constitutes age discrimination. The ordinance on the Youth+Music program requires contributions to be awarded on the basis of professional suitability.

A highly educated and warm-hearted musician with an incredibly broad horizon, the flautist Susanne Huber-Bitter, passed away on June 28, 2017. As the child of an artistically and academically active family, she fled Berlin in the middle of the Second World War, grew up in Blonay (VD), went to grammar school in Lausanne and completed her flute studies with André Jaunet in Zurich. After further years of study and travel, she moved to Reigoldswil (BL) at the beginning of the 1960s. She was devoted to her husband, the composer Klaus Huber, for the rest of her life. She became his interpreter of world premieres, often alongside Aurèle Nicolet. A CD with flute works by Klaus Huber, released by Egidius Streiff in 2014, is testimony to her creative artistry and her haunting sound. The Swiss Music Newspaper on September 9, 2015 in a Review reported on this. We will remember Susanne Huber-Bitter as a "musicienne complète" and commemorate a personality who was always ready to help family, friends and pupils and who knew how to combine music, social commitment and people in an outstanding way.