The sails have been set for the new season: "... the Jedi will return" - not to the end of the world, however, but to the KKL Luzern, together with a pack of prominent pirates, talented magicians, the graceful Cinderella, the completely unapologetic Ice Queen and Luke, Leia and Darth Vader on the big screen. And the wildly diverse troupe has a colorful program of the most beautiful film music for the 2022/23 season.
The 21st Century Orchestra, under the musical direction of Ludwig Wicki, is delighted to accompany the spectacular sequels to the science fiction classic Star Warsthe fantasy saga Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End and especially the KKL premiere of Disney's The Ice Queento be able to play live.
A reunion with the fairytale classic at Christmas time Three hazelnuts for Cinderellabefore The Sound of Quentin Tarantino will bring the year to a close with a musical best-of by the cult director.

Overwhelming emotions arise in the concert hall when the film music is played live, as at the new gala film concert at the beginning of the season Epic - Legendary soundtracks: On November 5 and 6, 2022, the 21st Century Orchestra and the 21st Century Chorus under the direction of Ludwig Wicki will perform music from The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Gladiator, Game Of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Braveheart, Ben Hur, Thor: Dark World, King Arthur The audience embarks on an epic sound journey to the Scottish Highlands, to Middle-earth and outer space, to ancient Rome, the Middle Ages and the future.

Join the movie heroes on their journey through the unforgettable soundtracks to the biggest blockbusters of all time!
With a bit of luck, you could win 2×2 tickets for the concert:

Epic - Legendary soundtracks
November 6, 7:30 p.m. at the KKL Lucerne.
Concert performance without film clips.

Please send an e-mail with your exact address to by October 10:
contact@musikzeitung.ch

The winners will be informed accordingly in week 42 at the latest.
 

Over a three-year project period, a team of musicologists, musicologists and IT experts will semantically process the cultural heritage and enrich it with scientifically sound information on Brahms' works. The focus is on a networked list of works in which all sources in the collection are linked in terms of content.

The heart of the Brahms Institute, founded in 1991, is the extensive collection of sources on Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) and his environment. Technical and library standards make it possible to connect to the Digitale Kulturwerk Lübeck, the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and Europeana, among others.

The project is being realized with a total of 800,000 euros in funding from the Excellence and Structural Budget of the state of Schleswig-Holstein and the Lübeck Possehl Foundation. The portal is due to go online in 2025.

More info: www.brahms-institut.de

The associations are calling for the reintroduction of free coronavirus tests for the cultural sector and no mask requirement for musicians at cultural and music events. Public spaces, for example in schools, clubs and municipalities, should be made available for music rehearsals, coronavirus regulations should be standardized in all cities and municipalities, and energy cost subsidies for music events should be demanded.

In the publication "Basics for making music under pandemic conditions version 2.0" the network points out which measures offer the best protection against infection.

More info:
https://www.musikrat.de/aktuelles/detailseite/deutscher-musikrat-landesmusikraete-und-bundesmusikverband-chor-orchester-schlagen-alarm
 

The Lucerne School of Music has had the new DAS Managing cultural and educational institutions in the continuing education program. The focus is on the challenges, opportunities and skills associated with a management role in the cultural and educational sector, particularly at music schools or in the scene of freelance artists. Unique to date is the flexible entry in cooperation with the two departments of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts: Design & Art and Business, as well as with the University of Lüneburg/Goethe Institute, which enables individual profiling. What exactly is behind this further education program? We asked program director Dominik Deuber, director of Musikkollegium Winterthur and artistic director of the GENERATIONS jazz festival.

Firmly established in the cultural scene and yet program director at the HSLU - Music: Why are you involved in this continuing education program?
Dominik Deuber: Firstly, I myself benefited a lot from similar further training after my music studies and saw new paths for my career as a result. Secondly, the intensive exchange with professional colleagues always broadens my horizons and thirdly, new networks and practical examples are crucial for my own professional development.

Profiles, areas of expertise, age: the team of lecturers is diverse: What is your impression?
My impression is very good, even if it is a challenge to cover all topics. However, I think that we have managed to fill all areas - which are important for a manager today - with competent and motivated lecturers.

What can I expect - what does the program offer me or what makes it different from others?
The DAS Managing cultural and educational institutions imparts the fundamental knowledge and creative skills required to take on a management function in an innovative way at music institutions, in particular at music schools or other cultural and educational institutions. The course is therefore more specific than other general cultural management courses.

What are your personal wishes for further training?
That our students are in a different place personally after the DAS, with more knowledge, confidence and relationships to take the next step in their personal and professional development.

Does the program qualify me as a music school director?
Yes, it is already recognized in the canton of Lucerne. The application for VMS recognition has been submitted - an initial inspection was positive. Inquiries can be made in a few weeks.
 

How do birds learn to sing? Is birdsong really "music"? What meaning do we humans give to their vocalizations? These and other questions were addressed by an interdisciplinary team of sound researchers and sound specialists from the HSLU as part of the "Seeking Birdscapes" project. They worked together with external partners such as the Sempach Ornithological Institute, the BirdLife Lucerne Foundation and the Lucerne Nature Museum.

The project focused on the relationship between humans and their sounding environment, in particular the auditory, acoustic and musical dimensions of soundscapes created by birds (Birdscapes). The researchers and artists approached the topic in various sub-projects, some sound and musicological, some artistic, resulting in sound recordings, sound compositions, a performance, films and lectures.

More info:
https://www.hslu.ch/de-ch/hochschule-luzern/ueber-uns/medien/medienmitteilungen/2022/08/30/medienmitteilung-seeking-birdscapes/

Born in 1955, Monteilhet completed his training with Eugen M. Dombois and Hopkinson Smith as the first French lutenist at the Schola Cantorum in Basel in 1982. Parallel to his concert activities, he founded a lute class at the Paris Conservatoire National de Région in 1991 and a class at the Conservatoire National de Région Supérieur de Musique in 1994.

A perfectionist, he underwent fingertip surgery to achieve a better sound with his instrument. In the noughties of the 21st century, he decided to end his career. As a result of this decision, he donated his instruments to the theorbist Benjamin Perrot.

Born in 1955, Monteilhet completed his training with Eugen M. Dombois and Hopkinson Smith as the first French lutenist at the Schola Cantorum in Basel in 1982. Parallel to his concert activities, he founded a lute class at the Paris Conservatoire National de Région in 1991 and a class at the Conservatoire National de Région Supérieur de Musique in 1994.

A perfectionist, he underwent fingertip surgery to achieve a better sound with his instrument. In the noughties of the 21st century, he decided to end his career. As a result of this decision, he donated his instruments to the theorbist Benjamin Perrot.

In 2020, Lucerne held a broad consultation on the mandatory introduction of regional cultural funding. The results of this consultation were incorporated into the current message from the cantonal government on the further development of regional cultural promotion. According to the canton's media release, the obligation of the municipalities to promote regional culture was well received. The role of the canton as a co-financier is also welcomed.

With the planned introduction of regional cultural promotion, all municipalities undertake to contribute at least one franc per inhabitant per year to regional cultural promotion. At the same time, the canton undertakes to make an annual contribution of one franc per capita.

More info: Media release from the canton

The Swiss-Austrian composer Beat Furrer, who was born in 1954, studied conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Otmar Suitner and composition with Roman Haubenstock Ramati. In 1985, Furrer founded the Klangforum Wien ensemble, which he led until 1992 and with which he has been associated as a conductor ever since. Since the fall of 1991, Furrer has been a full professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.

The eleventh Roche Commissions commission, "Air" by Thomas Adès, will be premiered by the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) and Anne-Sophie Mutter on August 27, 2022. The LFCO was founded in 2021 as a counterpart to the Lucerne Festival Orchestra: an orchestra of excellence for the interpretation of contemporary music. It brings together former and current students of the Lucerne Festival Academy.

After the death of Offenbach's wife Herminie, the composer's estate was divided among the couple's four daughters in 1887. All of the partial holdings resulting from this division are largely scattered, with the exception of the collection which the library (BnF) would like to acquire and which has been preserved in its entirety.

The archive consists mainly of manuscript scores, mostly annotated manuscript booklets, iconographic documents, archival materials and bequests. It also contains manuscripts of great masterpieces (La Grande-duchesse de Gérolstein, Les Contes d'Hoffmann and so on). Unpublished collections from the Théâtre de la Gaîté and the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, the cradle of operetta, also shed light on the decisive years of 19th century opera.

The BnF is hoping for 200,000 euros from donors to purchase the Offenbach Fund, the price of which has been set at 1.69 million euros.

More info: https://www.bnf.fr/fr/participez-lacquisition-du-fonds-offenbach

Fredy Studer wrote Swiss jazz history with the electric jazz freemusic band OM, which was founded in 1972 and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall with a new album. The quartet with Christy Doran, Urs Leimgruber and Bobby Burri is one of the longest-lived formations in Europe. His most important bands also include the trio Red Twist & Tuned Arrow, the hardcore chamber music trio Koch-Schütz-Studer and his own band Phall Fatale.

In 2018, Fredy Studer released his solo album "Now's the Time", on which he comprehensively summed up the subtleties and sophisticated grooves of his drumming and percussion playing. "Now's the Time" was also the motto of how Fredy Studer thought and lived. Presence in the moment, the power of immediacy, the energy of improvisation: that was his expression, his elixir of life.

Over the past three weeks, young conductors have had the opportunity to work and perform with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra and the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra. They were conducted by Jaap van Zweden, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, and Johannes Schlaefli, Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts.

Four of the ten participants were awarded a Neeme Järvi Prize. Lithuanian Izabele Jankauskaite has been invited to conduct the Bern Symphony Orchestra and the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra in the coming season and will also conduct the Musikkollegium Winterthur in a concert next season.

The American Kyrian Friedenberg will conduct the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Spaniard Daniel Huertas will conduct the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, while the Frenchman Samuel Rachid has received a second invitation from the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne will also be inviting guest conductors in the coming season.

The jury consisted of the chairman Christoph Müller (Artistic Director Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy) and the assessor Lukas Wittermann (Executive Director Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy), the professors of the Gstaad Conducting Academy Jaap van Zweden (assisted by Peter Biloen) and Johannes Schlaefli, two representatives of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra (Vlad Stančuleasa, concertmaster, and David Bruchez, solo trombone) as well as representatives of all partner orchestras.

Over the past three weeks, young conductors have had the opportunity to work and perform with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra and the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra. They were conducted by Jaap van Zweden, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, and Johannes Schlaefli, Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts.

Four of the ten participants were awarded a Neeme Järvi Prize. Lithuanian Izabele Jankauskaite has been invited to conduct the Bern Symphony Orchestra and the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra in the coming season and will also conduct the Musikkollegium Winterthur in a concert next season.

The American Kyrian Friedenberg will conduct the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Spaniard Daniel Huertas will conduct the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, while the Frenchman Samuel Rachid has received a second invitation from the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne will also be inviting guest conductors in the coming season.

The jury consisted of the chairman Christoph Müller (Artistic Director Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy) and the assessor Lukas Wittermann (Executive Director Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy), the professors of the Gstaad Conducting Academy Jaap van Zweden (assisted by Peter Biloen) and Johannes Schlaefli, two representatives of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra (Vlad Stančuleasa, concertmaster, and David Bruchez, solo trombone) as well as representatives of all partner orchestras.

According to a press release, the Hindemith Foundation in Blonay/Vaud has for the first time awarded a "prize for the most convincing interpretation of a work by Paul Hindemith" as part of the German Music Competition. The prize is endowed with 3000 euros. It is combined with a concert performance in the Kuhhirtenturm, Hindemith's Frankfurt residence in the 1920s. The foundation is thus paying tribute to violinist Anne Luisa Kramb, who played Hindemith's Solo Sonata op. 31 No. 2 as part of the German Music Competition. According to Foundation President Andreas Eckhardt, the violinist interpreted the work with both expressive emphasis and playful ease and had a strong emotional impact on the audience. Anne Luisa Kramb is 22 years old and studies at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with Antje Weithaas. In addition to the Hindemith Prize, she also won the German Music Competition Prize and the Bonn Rotary Music Prize as part of the competition in August 2022.

According to the SCB media release, Lisandro Abadie has always had a special interest in the linguistic foundations and history of singing, which has led him to work as a researcher, dramaturge and translator. He has also been able to use his special qualifications for several years as a vocal coach in the AVES "Advanced Vocal Ensemble Studies" advanced training master's program at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB), as well as giving masterclasses in Thiré with William Christie, and in Paris, Fontainebleau, Venice and Urbino.

His work as a bass-baritone has led him to collaborate with ensemble leaders and conductors such as William Christie, Laurence Cummings, Rubén Dubrovsky, Václav Luks, Francesco Corti, Tōnu Kaljuste, Skip Sempé, Paul Agnew, Philippe Herreweghe, Paul Goodwin, Vincent Dumestre and many others. He has performed at the Handel Festivals in Göttingen and Karlsruhe (Siroe, Theodora, Riccardo Primo), at the National Theater in Prague (Rinaldo), at the Opéra Comique in Paris (Cachafaz, Alcione) and is a regular guest at the London Handel Festival. He has also been involved in numerous CD and video productions.